The Y-Axis
by ANerdWithASwitch
Summary: "This boy, he's…interesting. His aura seems to extend a bit into the future, then…shift?" Crossover between games and anime. Contains eventual BrightTomorrowShipping and Amourshipping. Eventual. Smart(er)!Ash
1. A Journey Begins

_Chapter I: A Journey Begins_

Vaniville Town, located in southeastern Kalos, was always a quiet area. The small town of barely five thousand residents never got too much tourist traffic, something the population appreciated. On one of the many bright and sunny mornings the town gets, a small red and white bird sat on a tree branch outside the first house on Flower Street. It chirped once before gliding down through the house's open window and perching on the shoulder of a tall brown-haired woman who appeared to be in her forties.

"Fletchling, could you wake the twins?" She asked the bird.

If birds could smile, Fletchling would have smirked. The bird fluttered up the stairs to where the stairway split. Taking the left stair, it darted into the boy's room and quickly zeroed in on the sleeping boy. Fletchling dive-bombed him in the head, which got him up nearly instantly.

"OW!" Shouted the now wide-awake boy. "I'm going to get brain damage if you keep waking me up like this!"

The orange bird just giggled.

The boy let out a low growling sound before lunging at the bird, which, in his groggy state, was easily dodged, causing the boy to fall out of bed and land on his left arm. He held back a hiss of pain. "Yep, that's going to bruise," he looked up at the fletchling. "One day, Fletchling, I won't miss."

Fletchling took this as an empty threat and darted off to wake up the boy's twin sister. The boy grumbled and went downstairs, still in his pajamas.

"Calem!" The boy's mother yelled when he reached the first floor. "You look completely disheveled. Go back to your room and clean yourself up."

Calem sighed and went back upstairs. When he came back down, the grey-eyed boy was in jeans and a T-shirt, and his brown hair was no longer a complete mess, or at least it was hidden by the red cap he was wearing. "So, what's for breakfast?" He asked.

"Bacon and eggs," Calem's mother responded with a smile. Calem smiled and walked over to the table, taking a seat.

Calem's sister slowly descended the stairwell while yawning. "Nice to see you up and about this early, Serena," Calem said sarcastically once she was off the stairwell.

Serena, a girl with grey eyes and wearing a red skirt with a black T-shirt just responded by sticking her tongue out at him. "Eggs?" She asked her mother, pushing her shoulder-length honey blonde hair out of her face as she spoke.

"Yes," she replied happily. Serena happily walked over and helped herself to a fried egg.

"Mom, these are great!" Calem exclaimed, shovelling eggs into his mouth.

Serena scrunched up her nose. "Could you at least not talk with your mouth full?"

Calem rolled his eyes, but swallowed what was in his mouth before taking another bite.

"Thank you Calem." his mother smiled. "Now, this is our third full day in Vaniville, and you two haven't made any new friends yet. I want you two to introduce yourselves to our neighbors after breakfast."

"Sure thing, mom," Serena replied.

"All right, I'm finished," Calem said, pushing his chair out and standing up.

Both mother and daughter looked at him surprised. "H-how?!" Exclaimed Serena in slight awe. "That was only a minute and a half!"

"I'm sixteen and excited to meet people," Calem deadpanned before dropping his dishes in the sink and rushing upstairs to grab his shoulder bag.

Serena looked down at her half-finished eggs. "The eggs were great mom, but-"

Her mother interrupted. "I know, you have to go to keep your brother in check."

"Thanks, mom!" She said before quickly excusing herself and rushing to her room to get her things.

Less than a minute later, both Serena and Calem arrived downstairs at about the same time. "Bye you two," called the mother as the two teens rushed out the door.

"Bye, mom!" They called back in unison.

Outside, on the house's cobble driveway, the teens were greeted almost immediately by a green eyed girl about their age with brown hair done up in pigtails wearing short shorts and a pink T-shirt, who was practically bouncing up and down with the excitement of meeting new people. "Hi!" She exclaimed enthusiastically. "My name is Shauna! I'm your new neighbor! What are your names?"

Calem blinked a few times before responding. "My name is Calem," he said. "And my twin sister over here is Serena."

"Hello," Serena said warmly.

"It's nice to meet you!" Shauna exclaimed, ever enthusiastically. "I have an idea! Why don't you come over to Aquacorde Town with me and you can meet my other friends!" She then ran off towards Route One.

Calem again blinked a few times and Serena lightly punched him in the arm. "She might just have more energy than you, Calem!"

Calem winced slightly at the contact with his bruised arm, but then smirked. "Challenge accepted."

Serena rolled her eyes at her brother's somewhat childish behavior. "Anyway," she said, "We should probably head north to Aquacorde Town."

* * *

Aquacorde Town, much like its southern neighbor, was a small town, with barely more residents than Vaniville. In fact, the two towns were so close together, many even considered them to simply be a single place, despite the slight distance between the two.

Exiting route one only five minutes after the two siblings entered it, Calem asked, "Why is that even labeled as a route? It's even paved!"

While Calem did bring up a good point, Serena's thoughts were interrupted by Shauna yelling, "Calem, Serena, over here!" As she waved to them from a table at a café with two other people.

Calem and Serena walked over to the table and sat down in two of the empty chairs. Shauna began introductions. "Calem, Serena, this is Tierno and Trevor. Tierno, Trevor, this is Calem and Serena."

Tierno was a portly boy in jeans and a black vanillish T-shirt, with short black hair done up in small spikes. He was carrying a yellow backpack. Trevor, in contrast, was a lanky, younger boy with orange, almost spherical hair around his head, and was considerably better dressed than Tierno, wearing black jeans and a short-sleeve dress shirt. He also was carrying a green backpack and had a camera hanging around his neck.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you two," said Trevor.

"Hi!" Tierno exclaimed. "It's nice to see that Shauna has made some friends outside of our little group, even if she probably has the full intention of bringing you into it."

"Hey!" Shauna shouted, "I have friends outside this group!"

"Name one." Tierno countered.

"Um, er, okay, yeah, you're right. You four are pretty much my only friends," Shauna conceded. "Anyway, Professor Sycamore wanted us to give you two your starter pokémon."

Calem and Serena gave each other a shocked look.. _The professor knew about them? And he wanted to give them starter pokémon?_

Trevor was rummaging around in his bag for the pokéballs. "Found them!" He exclaimed. He cleared his throat and continued on. "There's Chespin, the grass type starter," he threw a pokéball up in the air and the spiky nut pokémon popped out onto the table, striking a pose. "Fennekin, the fire type starter," he repeated the process with another pokéball and the fox pokémon entered the scene, yawning as if she had just woke. "And Froakie, the water type starter," Another pokéball was thrown and the bubble frog pokémon was on the table, puffing out his chest in pride. "Also, Shauna, since you don't have a pokémon yet, the professor said that you could pick one as well."

"Really?" Shauna asked, surprised.

"Yep," Tierno said, popping the 'P'. "Now, who's going to pick first?"

"I think I'll choose last, seeing as Calem and Serena are new here," Shauna explained.

Calem and Serena looked at each other. "You're younger," Calem said. "So I'll let you go first."

After a few moments of thinking, Serena nodded, "I'll pick Froakie."

The frog seemed elated to have a trainer. "_Fro Froakie!_" He exclaimed.

Calem nearly let out an audible sigh of relief. "All right then," He said. "I choose Fennekin."

"_Fenn,_" she purred quietly, a smile on her face.

"I guess that leaves me with Chespin then!" Shauna exclaimed happily.

"_Chespin ches!_" He exclaimed in an equally enthusiastic way.

"Also," Trevor began. "Professor Sycamore asked me to give you three this." He handed them a square device with two glowing blue lines that met in the middle where there was a blue, glowing circle containing a pokéball design.

"What's this?" Calem asked.

"This is a pokédex, recently updated to have information on all seven hundred twenty-one pokémon, excluding legendaries and mythicals; no one really encounters them enough to actually gather data." Trevor explained.

Calem and Serena gaped at this for different reasons. Serena because she was not expecting this, and Calem because the device in his hand had information on nearly seven hundred pokémon. Shauna just smiled at having one.

"Trevor," Serena started. "We can't accept this. These have to be at least a hundred poké."

"Take it. The professor insists. We all insist," Trevor countered.

Tierno and Shauna nodded in agreement.

Serena sighed, feigning annoyance. "Fine."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Tierno said suddenly. "The professor sent a letter for your mother." He handed Calem an envelope.

"All right," Calem took the envelope, putting it in his shoulder bag, "we'll give this to our mom, and then come back here."

"Froakie, return," Serena commanded, returning Froakie to its pokéball.

Calem was about to do the same, but when he held up the pokéball, Fennekin shook her head.

"You want to stay outside?" He asked.

Fennekin nodded. "_Fenne._"

"Okay then," Calem said. He held out his right arm for Fennekin to climb onto his shoulder.

As Calem and Serena were about to leave, Shauna stopped them. "Calem," she began. "Can we have a pokémon battle?"

Calem shrugged, or as much as he could with about ninety-two newtons on his shoulder. "Sure."

A minute later, they were on the battlefield behind Aquacorde Town's local pokémon center. Shauna sent out Chespin, as Fennekin leaped off Calem's shoulder and somersaulted in midair.

"Wait a second," Calem said. "I just realized that neither of us know what moves our pokémon have."

Both trainers quickly scanned their pokémon with their pokédexes.

**Fennekin, the fox pokémon. As it walks, it chews on twigs to gain energy. It intimidates opponents by puffing air of 390°F out of its ears. This fennekin is female. Active Ability: Blaze. Hidden Ability: Magician (locked). Known Moves: Tail Whip, Scratch, Ember. Egg Move(s): Hypnosis (locked).**

Calem considered this and the somersault, and then said, "Shauna, you can have the first move."

"Why thank you Calem," Shauna replied before yelling, "Tackle!"

Chespin charged. Deciding to take advantage of Fennekin's agility and natural speed, Calem simply waited. "Wait for it…"

Chespin got closer.

"Wait for it…"

Chespin was seconds away from impact.

"Somersault over him and use Ember, now!"

Fennekin did just that. Calem had timed the jump so that when Fennekin had turned ninety degrees forward, Chespin would be directly in the line of fire. Fennekin shot the tight bundle of flames out of her mouth, and they impacted Chespin right on the head, causing him to tumble and fall face-first into the dirt. Meanwhile, Fennekin landed perfectly on her feet.

"Nice work, Fennekin!" Calem exclaimed.

"_Fenne!_" Fennekin replied happily.

But Chespin wasn't down yet, and Shauna knew that. "Use Vine Whip to tie Fennekin's legs together!" She yelled.

Fennekin suddenly not being able to move her legs was certainly a surprise to her. "_Fen!?_" She squeaked.

"Now, slam her into the ground!" Shauna yelled. Chespin swung Fennekin over his head to get the most momentum before hurling her into the ground.

Fennekin sprang back to her feet, now facing her opponent, angrier than ever at ruining her fur. Chespin was giggling at his opponent's misfortune, which only served to supplement Fennekin's growing anger, evident in the eye twitching. Before anyone else could do anything, Calem yelled, "Ember attack!"

Fennekin used Ember. It was super effective. Chespin fainted.

"_Piiiiiin,_" he moaned.

Shauna sighed. "Chespin, return."

Fennekin jumped back onto Calem's shoulder and began cleaning herself.

Shauna walked over to Calem, smiled, and extended a hand. "Nice battle." She congratulated.

Calem accepted the handshake, "Same to you," he said. "All right, see you guys in a few minutes!" Calem said to Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna, before he and Serena ran back to Vaniville, while Shauna went to heal Chespin.

* * *

As Serena and Calem were walking back to their house, Calem came to a sudden realization. "How's mom going to react to our pokémon?" He asked.

Serena pondered this for a second before replying. "It's either going to go really well, or really, really bad."

Fennekin's eyes widened at the thought of Calem's mother not liking her and Froakie. "_Fennn…_" She squealed quietly, as a few thoughts ran through her head. _What if Calem's mother threw them out? What if Calem's mother forced them into indentured servitude? What if…_

She began hyperventilating, causing the air around her to steadily warm up.

This caught Calem's attention, as he didn't want to catch on fire and have half his face burnt off. "Fennekin," he said, "calm down. The chances of mom not liking you and Froakie are very, very small. She loves pokémon."

This calmed the fox pup down enough for her heart rate and breathing to return to normal, along with the air temperature. "_Fenn,_" she apologized.

Serena smiled. "It's fine, Fennekin," she said. "You were just a bit paranoid about meeting our mom."

Distracted by the conversation, Calem walked right into the door of his house. He quickly took a couple steps back as the family rhyhorn by the front door cracked an eye open, and waited for the door to open as Serena and Fennekin giggled slightly.

After what seemed like an eternity for Fennekin, but it was actually only five seconds, the door finally opened. Their mother's reaction was not the one that Fennekin was expecting.

"Oh, Calem, Serena, you're back already?" Then she saw Fennekin on Calem's shoulder. Her smile widened. "You got a pokémon!"

Serena smiled. "I got one too, and if we can come in, I'll show you him."

Calem and Serena's mom, realizing that they were still in the doorway, simply said "Oh," and let them inside.

Once inside, Serena let Froakie out of its pokéball and onto the couch. It looked around at the new area curiously. "Froakie," Serena said, "I'd like to introduce you to my mother."

Froakie looked at Serena and Calem's mother, hopped up to her and, in greeting, said, "_Fro, Fro Froakie!_"

The twins' mother smiled and said, "Hello."

Fennekin, not liking being left out of the introductions, shouted "_Fenne!_" and leapt off Calem's shoulder, onto the couch.

Their mother chuckled at this. "And of course I can't forget to say hello to you either, Fennekin." Then she looked at her children. "I doubt you only came here to show me your pokémon. What else is there?"

Calem snapped his fingers. "Oh! I nearly forgot! Professor Sycamore sent a letter for you." He took the letter out of his shoulder bag and gave it to his mother.

She looked at the envelope. In large letters in the middle of the envelope, it read:

_Grace Proulx_

_101 Flower Ln,_

_Vaniville Town, Kalos Region 71140_

The return address read:

_Professor Augustine Sycamore_

_Pokémon Laboratory, Southern Boulevard,_

_Lumiose City, Kalos Region 75116_

Opening the envelope, Grace continued on to the actual letter.

_Dear Grace Proulx,_

_Saturday, August 3, 2013_

_Due to your recent move to Vaniville Town, I've decided to help your children feel more acquainted with other people in the town by giving them starter pokémon. I have sent three of my part-time assistants to give Serena and Calem their pokémon, and they should be arriving Monday around at 9:00 AM. From Friday, August 9th to Monday, August 12th, I will be in Santalune City to conduct research, and would like to meet your children in person. I hope to see them there!_

_Sincerely,_

_Prof. Augustine Sycamore, Ph.D._

Grace re-read the letter a couple of times before making her decision.

"So, what does it say?" Calem asked, getting impatient.

Serena rolled her eyes, but Grace just smiled. "The professor wants to meet you two in person," she explained. "He'll be in Santalune on Friday conducting research, so you should probably start packing."

Calem was about to run up to his room when Grace suddenly started, "Also, I've come to a decision."

This stopped Calem in his tracks. "What?" He asked.

"Due to you getting your starter pokémon, and the fact that you two have wanted to go on a journey for a while now, I've decided to let you go on a journey if you want to," Grace explained.

"Seriously?" Serena asked disbelievingly. Grace nodded. While Serena was calm on the outside, she was cheering on the inside. _Yes! It's about time!_

Calem, on the other hand, was doing nothing to contain his excitement. "Yes! Finally! Thank you!"

Froakie smiled. He was finally going on a journey! He had wanted to ever since he could understand Common and learned what the word 'journey' meant.

However, despite the positive reactions of her friends, Fennekin was thinking of a bunch of worst-case scenarios. _What if they were attacked in the woods by a powerful pokémon? What if one of them broke a bone and they couldn't go on? What if…_

_S_he quickly stopped herself from thinking about the negatives and forced herself to think about the positives so she did not wind up burning the house down. She would get to explore the region. That is a plus. Thankfully, nobody noticed the slight increase in temperature except for Froakie.

"I'll start packing," Calem quickly muttered, seemingly still in disbelief, before running upstairs, soon followed by Serena.

_Packing._ The word reminded Fennekin of something, but she couldn't recall what. All she could remember was that Shauna had told her that they had forgotten something while packing, and that Fennekin had started hyperventilating, eventually passing out. The thought was enough for her to begin replicating the event. This time, it didn't go unnoticed by the only human in the room.

Grace looked at the hyperventilating fox pup, walked over to the couch, and sat down next to her. "What's wrong, Fennekin?"

Noticing Grace, Fennekin's breathing calmed down. The fox pup looked at the floor. "_Fenn, Fennekin…_"

"You don't want to talk about it?" Grace asked warmly.

Fennekin nodded.

"That's fine then. Just don't bottle it up entirely. Okay?"

Fennekin nodded again. Once Grace left, Froakie decide to strike up a conversation with the fox pup.

"_Fro, Fro Froakie?_"

Fennekin started to fidget with her paws. "_Kiiiin,_" she mumbled.

Froakie sighed. "_Kie Froakie_."

When Calem and Serena came back downstairs, each carrying a hiking backpack, containing a tent, enough food and water to last until Santalune and other general journeying materials. Their shoulder bags would store their cash, pokédexes, and pokéballs.

Calem walked up to the two pokémon. "All right guys, time to go!" He held out his right arm for Fennekin to climb up onto his shoulder.

Froakie hopped over to Serena, and she returned him to his pokéball. "So," she clarified, "we're going to Aquacorde first to buy more supplies, and then it's off to Santalune?"

"Yep," verified Calem. "So, if we want to get to Santalune Forest by nightfall, we'll have to get going now."

Grace smiled and walked over to her children. "It seems like you two have your journey all planned out."

"We have a plan until we get to Santalune," Serena explained. "but after that, we've got nothing."

"Besides, things rarely work out as planned," Calem stated.

Grace smiled again. "Well, what are you waiting for? Like you said, if you want to get to the forest by nightfall, you'll have to get going now." She embraced both of her children and opened the door for them.

"Bye mom!" Calem yelled, rushing out the door.

Serena sighed. "We'll call once we get to Santalune." Then she ran after her brother. "Calem, wait up!"

Grace sighed, then smiled. _Some things never change._

* * *

When the twins arrived in Aquacorde, they were immediately greeted by the trio of part-time researchers. "Hey guys!" Shauna shouted, waving at them.

Calem and Serena smiled and strolled over to them.

"So, what's with all the gear?" Tierno asked.

"The professor's going to be in Santalune on Friday, and wants to meet us." Serena explained.

Shauna jumped up. "Oh! So you're here to get supplies, right?"

She had said it so quickly that Calem had to take a few seconds to react. "Err, yeah."

Somehow, Shauna's smile grew even wider. "Then I know the perfect place to shop for some!" Shauna grabbed his wrist and took off.

Calem's eyes went wide and he visibly paled. Not only was he losing the challenge, but he was being forced to go shopping…with an extremely hyper girl. Fennekin hopped off of his shoulder and walked back to the group. Calem looked at Serena, mouthed the word 'help,' and disappeared from view.

Serena was laughing her head off for a bit, but soon stopped. "They better be back within the next hour, or we won't be able to get to Santalune Forest by nightfall."

"Oh, Shauna's gone on some shopping sprees before," Trevor said. "And this isn't one of them. They'll be back within the next half-hour."

Meanwhile, Calem was terrified. Being forced to go shopping with a hyperactive teenage girl was not on his to-do list for today. Of course, neither was getting a starter pokémon, nor going on a journey, although it was him who said that things rarely work out as planned. But the point was, he was not in the mood to overspend. He only had a couple thousand pokédollars on him, after all. So when they entered a regular pokémart, he was understandably surprised. "You know," he said, "I was half-expecting you to drag me into a mall."

Shauna looked at him. "I figured that you wouldn't want to overspend."

"Well, you're correct." Calem said, relieved. "I'll buy the pokéballs. Do you, Trevor, and Tierno have some?"

"Yep. We also have some potions. I'll buy some for you and Serena."

With that, they split up. Calem had bought three pokéballs each for him and Serena, while Shauna bought three potions each for Calem and Serena.

They regrouped outside the store and made it back to their friends fifteen minutes after they had left. "You guys ready to go?" Calem asked, handing Serena her pokéballs and potions as Fennekin hopped back onto his shoulder.

Tierno shouldered his backpack. "Ready as we'll ever be."

Serena smiled. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

With that, the group walked off towards the bridge that would lead them to Route Two, and a journey began.

* * *

Far off in the Kanto region, the sun was just beginning to set as a teenager wearing a red and white hat, blue hoodie, and grey-black cargo pants walked away from a train station after saying farewell to his friend and companion on his Unova journey. The young man was conversing with a pikachu on his shoulder.

"You know, Pikachu," he said, "I just can't help but feel like something special is going to happen on our next journey."

"_Pika, pikachu._"

Suddenly, an old man in a car pulled up in front of him. "Ash, it's great to see you again!" He said in greeting.

The boy, now identified as Ash, smiled. "It's good to see you too, Professor."

"Any idea of where you want to go next?"

"I heard about the Kalos region from a reporter while I was in the Decalore Islands. I think I might go there."

"Ah, Kalos! One of my former students works there!"

"I suppose I'll meet him, then!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Firstly, for anyone that has actually been following anything I do (which is probably right about no one), I'd like to apologize. As perhaps a few people (but probably not many) who read this will recognize, this is a rewrite of a story I had a while ago, and I decided that, since I've been writing consistently now for about a week, I'd rewrite this and post it.

I have the first five chapters written and proofread, and I'll be posting them weekly as I write chapter six (which is almost completed-including proofreading) and beyond.


	2. Starting Out

_Chapter II: Starting Out_

The sun had fully set and twilight had begun when the old man, Ash, and Pikachu arrived in Pallet Town. The car dropped Ash and his pokémon off at a house. "See you tomorrow, Professor Oak!"

Oak smiled. "I look forward to it. Now, you should probably get some rest. It's getting late, after all!"

Ash smiled before turning around and entering his house. Greeting his mother, he went upstairs. As he did, he noticed a picture of himself, Gary, a boy and a girl, who all looked to be around eight. He sighed at the memories it brought back. The picture was taken at the end of Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp in 2003, back before he and Gary had become such fierce rivals, and before Serena and Calem had moved to Kalos. What he had told the professor wasn't a complete lie. Him hearing about Kalos did spur his memory, but he did not just want to go there because he had remembered it. He really just wanted to see his friends again.

A voice in his subconscious was telling him that there was another motive for wanting to go to Kalos. _Serena especially. Since you still have a crush on her._

Ash's eyes widened at the thought. _Shut up._

_Oh come on, you have to cut the dense act eventually._

_I said shut up._ Ash responded, this time a bit more fiercely.

_You're aura is spiking again. You haven't used it since, what, Hoenn?_

_Who?_

_I'm you, but also not you, if that makes any sense. I'm your other side. If you get really mad, and I meant like _REALLY _vehement, at someone, I come out and mess 'em up. You should start practicing your aura._

_But-_

_No buts! It's not good for you to deny your aura! I don't care if you want to be like everyone else! If you don't learn to control it, it will get out of hand!_

_I'm arguing with myself…_

_Go to bed. You should be able to make sense of it in the morning._

Ash didn't respond, rather he just continued his journey up the stairs. Once there, he quickly changed into his pajamas and crashed on the bed. Pikachu just looked confused.

* * *

Back in Kalos, the quintet of trainers were making their way along Route Two, all of whom, sans Trevor, who was just taking pictures, were itching for a battle.

"Come on!" Tierno whined. "I just want a battle so I can dance!"

"Ugh! Tierno, your yelling is just scaring all the wild pokémon away!" Trevor complained. "I can't get any good shots!"

Suddenly, a wild fletchling appeared. Trevor snapped a quick photo of it before Tierno yelled, "I'm going to catch it! Corphish go!" as he threw a pokéball, causing Corphish to materialize and stand on the field.

"_Cooorrrrr phish!_" It yelled.

Fletchling charged in with a Tackle. "_Fletch!_"

"To the left, Corphish!" Tierno shouted, while also dancing his way to the left with his pokémon. Fletchling missed entirely.

It quickly turned around, however, and assaulted Corphish with a Quick Attack.

"Corphish, use Harden and then catch it in a Vice Grip!"

Fletchling slammed into Corphish, who grunted at the bit of damage he had taken. It did not do as much damage as it could have though, and Corphish followed through with the plan, grabbing Fletchling's legs in one of his claws.

"_Fletch!_"

"Now, close range Bubble!" Tierno shouted.

Using his other claw, Corphish produced a slow stream of bubbles that Fletchling could not avoid.

"_Fletch…_" She tweeted quietly, before slipping into the realm of unconsciousness.

Tierno beamed. "Pokéball, go!" he shouted as he threw the red and white sphere at the bird. It absorbed the red and white bird and shook a few times before going still and sparkling, signifying that Fletchling was caught.

Tierno ran over to the pokéball after returning Corphish, picked it up, and grinned. "I caught a fletchling!"

Fennekin, who had been resting on Calem's shoulder the whole time, was woken up by this and looked at Tierno slightly annoyed before trying to go back to sleep.

* * *

A few hours later, the group finally came across the entrance to Santalune Forest. Looking up, they, Trevor especially, noticed that the leaves were already turning various shades of red, orange, and yellow, and that it was already nearing evening.

They reached a small clearing, and Calem asked, "Should we split up to see if we can find any pokémon and meet back up here in," he looked down at his phone, seeing that it said 7:00pm. "An hour?"

"Sounds like a good idea." agreed Serena.

"_Fenne!_" Fennekin, who had since woken up from her nap, jumped off Calem's shoulder, a smile on her face.

"I could get more pictures!" Trevor suggested to no one in particular.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll stay here and make dinner." Tierno said while he started grabbing cooking supplies.

"Okay!" Calem agreed, before they ran off in different directions.

Fifteen minutes later, Calem's search was proving to be fruitless. He was looking to the right when he bumped into Shauna, literally. The two knocked each other over.

Calem was the first to get up off the ground, and offered a hand to help Shauna up. She was more than glad to take it.

"Sorry about that." Calem said, embarrassed.

Shauna, back on her feet, quickly brushed herself off. "It's fine. It was partially my fault as well. Actually, come to think of it, we don't really know that much about each other."

"Hmm, no we don't. Want to walk for a bit and talk?"

"Sure!"

Fennekin smirked. _I ship it!_

* * *

The next forty-five minutes were spent with Shauna and Calem just talking while Fennekin was busy thinking of the possibilities of shipping the two.

"So, where did you live before moving to Vaniville?" Shauna asked as they were nearing camp.

"Well," Calem began, "I actually lived in Lumiose before moving out to Vaniville, but before I moved to Kalos, I lived in Pallet Town in the Kanto Region."

"Really, Kanto?"

"Yeah, I had a friend there, Ash Ketchum."

"Must have been hard to leave a friend behind."

"Yeah, but it was harder for Serena."

"Oh?"

"Don't tell her I said this, she'll murder me, find a way to resurrect me, and murder me again, but she had, and I think she still has, a HUGE crush on Ash."

Fennekin, who was listening, changed her thoughts to: _The OTPs have been doubled!_

There was silence between the trio for the next minute or two before they entered camp, right into a heated argument between Trevor and Tierno.

"I still don't understand why you need to take pictures of everything!" Tierno exclaimed.

"Well, I don't have a photographic memory, so having photographs is the next best thing!" Trevor retorted.

Serena just looked at the returning two with a look that simply read: 'Please get me out of this mess as soon as possible or I'll wind up gutting these two like fish.'

Shauna sighed and walked in between the two arguing friends. "Break it up, you two."

They both immediately stopped arguing and looked at Shauna. "Oh hey Shauna, you're back." Trevor said, pushing his orange hair out of his face to speak.

"We thought you had gotten lost or something." Tierno said. "We were about to go looking for you two."

"Nope, Calem and I just got to talking and I guess we took a meandering route back to camp." Shauna explained.

Meanwhile, Fennekin had hopped off Calem's shoulder and was engrossed in conversation with the other pokémon of the group while the humans sat down for dinner.

"Guys, we need a plan!" Fennekin exclaimed suddenly to her fellow pokémon.

The rest looked confused. "A plan for what?" Froakie asked.

"A plan to get Calem and Shauna together." The fox pup responded excitedly.

Chespin looked at her strangely. "Seriously?"

"Yep." Fennekin simply said.

Fletchling sighed. "You can't rush these things Fennekin. And that's assuming that they like each other."

"I agree with Fletchling on this one," Flabébé, Trevor's first pokémon, inputted.

Fennekin pouted and turned to her fellow starters. "What about you two?"

"I'll observe how Shauna acts around Calem, and I would suggest that you do the same but vice versa, to determine whether or not they are good for each other," Chespin explained.

"I know absolutely nothing about the subject matter and my trainer isn't involved," Froakie explained. "So, I'm indifferent."

"Do Pikachu, Pansage, and Corphish have a say in this matter?" Fletchling asked.

The group of gathered pokémon looked at the aforementioned trio and sweat-dropped. Pikachu, who Trevor had captured in the forest, Pansage, who Serena had captured, and Corphish seemed to be engaged in an eating contest.

Pikachu looked up. "Wha?" He asked with his mouth full. "Dis stu- is good."

The rest of the pokémon fell into fits of laughter, and grabbed food for themselves before those three got to it all.

Tierno had gotten dinner started by the time the pokémon were done conversing, and the fast eaters, Calem and Tierno, had already finished, and with the help of Pikachu, Pansage, and Corphish, began pitching the tents.

Soon enough, all of the trainers had finished and were falling asleep in their tents. Calem looked at Fennekin and spoke somewhat excitedly. "Well Fennekin, the first day of our journey has been completed."

Fennekin, already half asleep, simply purred out, "_Fen…_" and slipped into the blissful world of sleep, unaware of the joys and dangers that lay ahead for the group.

* * *

As the first rays of sunlight entered Ash's room, he awoke, changed, and sleepily meandered downstairs to where his mom was making breakfast. "Why hello, sleepyhead!" She greeted her only son.

Delia Ketchum was a rather tall, brown-haired woman, dressed in a pink shirt and blue jeans, who all but radiated a motherly presence.

"Hi mom," Ash replied, yawning. "What time is it? I must have slept like a rock."

"It's actually only seven."

"Seriously? I feel like I've slept for days."

Delia giggled at her son's response. "Anyway, these came for you in the mail." She handed him two letters.

_Now who could these be from?_ Ash thought. _Cilan maybe? Possibly Brock?_ He thought back to his traveling companions over the past six or so years. Brock had stuck with him up until the end of his Sinnoh journey, when he left to train for being a pokémon doctor. There was the infrequent letter and occasional phone call between the two, but nothing much. Cilan was his traveling companion throughout his Unova journey, and they just recently parted ways for him to continue his pokémon connoisseur career in Johto. It was unlikely that one of the letters was from him.

He looked down at the first letter.

_Ash Ketchum_

_303 Silver St,_

_Pallet Town, Kanto Region_

He opened it.

_Hey Ash!_

_I know it's been a while since we last talked, but I'd like to tell you that I completed stationary training as a traveling pokémon doctor and would like to join you on your next journey for work on my field training, if it's not too much to ask._

_Your old friend,_

_Brock_

"So, what does it say?" Delia asked.

"Brock wants to join me on my journey to Kalos!" Ash exclaimed.

"That's great. Wait, you already decided where you're going?"

"Wow, guess I must have been more tired than I thought last night. I actually have wanted to go to Kalos for a while now."

"Really? Huh. Now open the second one, I'm curious to see what it says as well."

Ash looked at the second letter. It didn't have a return address. _Huh, weird._ Ash thought.

_Ashton Ketchum_

_303 Silver St,_

_Pallet Town, Kanto Region_

_Okay,_ Ash thought, _the fact that this guy used my full name is kinda freaking me out._ He began to read.

_Dear Ashton,_

_First, I'd like to apologize for not speaking to you in person, and, by extension, being a terrible father for you. I had to leave soon after you were born to keep you from danger. If Giovanni had found out that I had a son, then he would have used you and your mother as leverage for me to help him._

_Secondly, I'd like to say a few things to you. First up, I've been following your progress as a trainer, and I must say that you have a knack for getting yourself in danger. But more importantly from that (okay, maybe not, but it was a nice transition into my next statement), I've noticed that you do much better in leagues when you use your older pokémon. You were in the top sixteen in Kanto, but you were a newbie trainer, so that was to be expected. Top eight in Johto, but that was your second league. Top four in Hoenn, if only for the fact that you were an experienced trainer, but if you had used your older pokémon, you could've and would've done better. Top four again in Sinnoh, but Tobias was an exceptional trainer, enough to win the league and make his way through three of Sinnoh's Elite Four. But in Unova, you dropped to top eight. Why? Most likely because your pokémon other than Pikachu were all inexperienced and you underestimated the competition. I would suggest that, before you head off to Kalos, you train all of your pokémon for a week to a month and bring some of your older pokémon with you. I expect you to make it to at least the finals in the Kalos league._

_Finally, you shouldn't suppress your aura. It's a part of who you are and it can be dangerous not only to you, but to those around you if you don't learn to control it._

_I hope that someday, I'll be able to come out of hiding and see how you and Delia are doing in person._

\- _Your Father_

Ash was tearing up by the end of the letter, so much that the snarky voice in his head didn't even bother to show up with an _I told you so._

Delia looked confused until Ash handed her the letter, at which point, she started tearing up as well.

Pikachu, who had come downstairs and jumped on Ash's shoulder while he was reading the letter, sent a small Thundershock at Ash to shock him out of his trance, and pointed at the stove with an annoyed "_Pika._"

Ash looked over at the stove and said, "Mom, breakfast is burning."

This also shook Delia out of her own trance, and she quickly jumped up to snatch the now slightly burned food off the stovetop.

They ate their breakfast in silence before, after downing an entire bottle of ketchup, Pikachu decided to take a look at the first letter that Ash had opened. When he did, his eyes widened in surprise. "_Chu Pika! Pikachu!_" shouted the pokémon.

Ash looked over at his excited companion. "Yep! Brock's coming with us on our Kalos journey. Though before that, I'm going to have to think up a training regimen for you guys."

Pikachu's expression seemed torn between elated and terrified.

_I would recommend two weeks of training before leaving for Kalos,_ said the voice in Ash's head. _The regimen itself is up to you._

_I'll call Brock now and tell him that we're going to Kalos in two weeks, but he can come to Pallet Town before then._

_Good idea. Never thought I'd say that to you._

_Still filled with snark?_

_Always filled with snark. Always, and you can't change it._

"Alright," Ash said suddenly, clapping his hands together, having finished his breakfast. "I'll head over to Professor Oak's and call Brock, along with thinking of a training regimen for my pokémon."

_You're growing well, my young padawan,_ said the voice in Ash's head.

_You're me._

_Yes, but I'm not just going to pass up a chance to reference something._

_What should I call you? I can't just keep calling you 'the voice in my head.'_

_Hmm… I would say your full name of Ashton, but that seems a bit cliché._

_Seriously?_

_I know! How about 'Counterpart?'_

_Simple, but it makes sense. I like it._

_Now go. I'll instruct you in your aura training later._

After saying goodbye to his mom, Ash and Pikachu left for the lab. When they arrived, it was just as they expected. Clean, organized, Gary typing away at one of the computers, etcetera.

Gary Oak, dressed in a purple t-shirt and blue jeans, had been Ash's rival once upon a time. After a while, however, he decided that his true passion lied in research, and was currently following in his grandfather's footsteps, training to obtain a researcher license.

"Hey Gary," Ash greeted his old friend-turned-rival-turned-friend.

Gary turned to him. "'Sup?"

"Trying to be cool does not work for you."

"Yeah, yeah. So, what brings you here?"

"A couple things: checking on my pokémon, calling Brock, setting up a training regimen for my pokémon, stuff like that."

"You're having a training regimen for your pokémon? Who are you and what have you done with Ash?"

"Ha ha, my dad sent a letter and suggested I set one up for my pokémon."

"You're dad's still alive?" Gary asked suddenly, before realizing what he said. "Sorry, that probably sounded extremely insensitive."

"Nah, it's okay. But yes, he is alive, and yes, I do have a training regimen for my pokémon to think up. Also, Brock may be coming to Pallet at some point."

"Really?"

"Yep, I just have to call him."

"Then go on then. I still have to finish this email to Professor Elm."

"See you around, Gary."

"Same to you."

Ash proceeded to one of the video phones Professor Oak had in his lab, and he dialed Brock's number. It rang for a few seconds before the traveling doctor picked up.

"Hi Ash!" Brock said excitedly. "We haven't talked in forever!"

"It's nice to see you too, Brock. I got your letter!" Ash enthused.

"So I'm assuming you have an answer for me?"

"Yep. It'd be great for you to join me on my next journey!"

"Glad to hear it," Brock grinned.

"My next journey's going to be in Kalos, and I'm leaving in two weeks, but you can come to Pallet before then."

"Two weeks seems like a long gap between journeys for you, Ash."

"My dad sent a letter suggesting I stay and train for a bit before heading to Kalos."

"I'll probably head to Pallet in a week or so."

"See you then."

"You as well."

With that, the connection was cut as Brock hung up. Ash turned around and saw the Professor. "Hi Professor Oak!" He said jovially.

Oak smiled. "Hello, Ash. Here to see your pokémon, I presume?"

"Yep."

"I'll go get Bulbasaur to call them, then."

When Ash got outside, he was greeted as he usually would be by his pokémon: a Flamethrower to the face from Charizard, who had decided to stay at the ranch and try to get Ash to bring them with him on the next journey, trampled by his herd of thirty tauros, and, when he got back up, tackled to the ground by Bayleef. _At least the rest of my pokémon have civilized ways to greet me,_ he thought, getting up. "Yeah, I missed you guys too," he said. "So, since I caught so many pokémon in Unova, I won't need to do introductions, as all of you've already met all of them, correct?" There was a collective nod between all of his pokémon. He released his Unova pokémon that he had on him from their pokéballs. "Alright, I'll be setting up a training regimen for the next two weeks before I head off to Kalos, and I'll be sure to rotate my team so all of you can travel with me at some point."

There was a lot of squealing following that statement, as Ash had never taken all of them on a journey from the beginning of one of them before. "Now, as for the training regimen…" Ash started, which shut all of his pokémon up.

He had sorted out three tiers of strength for his pokémon to spar and train with each other. Now, he loved all of his pokémon equally, but the tiers of strength were just so his pokémon were not injured while training. The top tier was for his strongest and most experienced pokémon, including Charizard, Sceptile, and, of course, Pikachu. The middle tier was for his pokémon who were still strong, but weren't nearing legendary levels of strength, including Glalie, Gible, and Buizel. The bottom tier was for his pokémon who still had much room for improvement and were quite inexperienced, including Snivy, Pignite, and Oshawott.

Ash relayed this information to his pokémon and got them started on training, then walked into the nearby woods to practice his own training.

_Alright,_ said Counterpart. _Aura is very similar to life force, so much so that they are actually quite intertwined, in a literal sense. In fact, your soul, life force, and aura are so connected that they can only be separated by an extremely powerful Ghost or Dark Type pokémon or someone with near complete control over one of the three._

_I'm following so far,_ Ash replied.

_Good. Now, because of these connections, controlling your aura depends on your health, both physical and mental. You got that?_

_Yep._

_Okay. So, now we can get to training, physically and mentally._

_Huh?_

_Drop and give me twenty while I constantly pester you about your crush on Serena._

_I don't have a crush on Serena._

_Denial. I know everything about you because I am you. Now, DROP AND GIMME TWENTY!_

And so, Ash's aura training began.

* * *

Training had been going on for nearly four hours at this point, and Ash was panting and sweating, but, with the help of Counterpart, he had finally managed to create a small aura sphere between his palms. He checked his watch: 11:34.

_Alright Counterpart,_ Ash began. _Time for a lunch break?_

_Yep, and one for your pokémon too._

As Ash began to walk back to his house, he heard a loud squawk behind him. He turned around and saw…

"Pidgeot?" he asked.

The majestic beige bird nodded her head, her feathers rustling.

Ash smiled and embraced his old friend. "Long time no see, buddy."

"_Pidgeooo._"

"Sorry about not coming back for you. With the excitement of my Johto journey and wining the Orange League it must have slipped my mind. So, what's the occasion?"

Pidgeot gestured behind her and Ash saw that several of the Pidgeotto and Pidgey from the flock had evolved. Pidgeot then wordlessly tapped an empty pokéball that Ash had on him and went inside, capturing herself. Then she popped back out.

"You want to come with me again?" Ash asked, stunned.

Pidgeot nodded.

Ash smiled. "Welcome back to the team, Pidgeot."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Kalos, it was around midnight. A sound from outside jolted Fennekin awake. She slowly exited the tent and walked a few meters before looking around. _Nothing._ She was about to walk back towards the tent when she heard breathing behind her. She turned around to see an absolutely massive ursaring staring down at her and so, she did what any sane creature who was significantly weaker than their opponent would do: run as fast as possible and call for help while doing it. Except, in her panic, she had chose to run in the exact opposite direction of the tent.

Dodging trees and rocks, Fennekin ran as fast as she possibly could to get away from the monster chasing her. That was, until she reached a cliff. She turned around and started quivering at the sight of the ursaring bearing down on her. _This is it,_ she thought, _this is where I'm going to die._

Just as the ursaring was about to bring its claws down on the fox pup…

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And here's chapter two! Hope the cliffhanger isn't too much of one to not be able to wait a week for the next one! Or maybe I just have a cruel sense of humor.


	3. Things Get Interesting

_Chapter III: Things get Interesting_

The ursaring was bearing down on Fennekin, about to bring its claws down for the finishing blow when…

A flashlight swept across the area the fox pup was in. "Fennekin?" Calem called. "Where are you?"

"_F-fenne!_" Fennekin called back, sounding terrified.

The ursaring had vanished into thin air, but Fennekin was still shaking. Calem walked up to Fennekin and hugged the shivering pokémon. "It's okay Fennekin. Did you see something?"

Fennekin sighed, and the shivering lessened. She nodded. _I really wish Shauna didn't forget my meds,_ she thought.

"Come on, let's get back to camp," Calem said, standing up.

Fennekin nodded again and padded after her trainer.

* * *

When the group woke up the next morning, Fennekin decided to tell the other pokémon about last night's incident.

Froakie looked at Fennekin. "What's up Fennekin? You look a bit shaken."

Fennekin sighed. "Another one happened last night."

Chespin cringed. "Let me guess. More vivid than the last?"

Fennekin nodded.

"What was it this time?" Corphish asked.

"An ursaring," Fennekin responded, shuddering, "And the hallucination was, the way my mind saw it, nearly tangible."

"You get hallucinations?" Pikachu asked bluntly. Flabébé's eyes widened and she shook her head at Pikachu in a 'stop talking now' fashion.

The fox pup glared daggers at the mouse pokémon. "Well _I_ can't help it if I have schizophrenia and _Shauna_ forgot my meds!" She shouted, the air around her steadily growing warmer.

"Fennekin, CALM DOWN!" Froakie said sternly.

_Well, at least she isn't glaring at me anymore,_ Pikachu thought when Fennekin switched her burning gaze to Froakie.

"WHY SHOULD I?" shouted the fox pup. "He INSULTED my condition!" The air around her was gaining temperature at a rapidly increasing pace at this point.

Chespin sighed. "I'll go get Calem and Shauna. You guys just try to calm her down."

"Would it help if I said that I'm sorry for asking such a blunt question?" Pikachu asked.

"NO!" Fennekin shouted, shooting an Ember at Pikachu, only for it to be shot down with a bubble attack from Froakie.

Chespin had returned with Calem and Shauna in tow. "What is going on here?!" Calem asked, finding a terrified Pikachu and a very ticked off Fennekin and Froakie.

"He INSULTED me!" Fennekin yelled, angrily pointing a paw at Pikachu. Of course all the humans could hear was a very angry "_Fen fenne, fennekin kin fennekin!_"

"You tried to attack him!" Froakie shouted.

Pikachu's cheeks started to spark. "Yeah! And all I did was ask a question!"

Shauna, sensing a fight was about to break out, shouted "Everyone SHUT UP!"

All of the pokémon immediately stopped arguing and turned to the two humans.

"Thank you," Shauna said. "Now, Pikachu, I want you to apologize to Fennekin for doing whatever you did to make her so angry."

"Sorry Fennekin," Pikachu apologized. "I didn't realize that was such a sensitive subject for you."

The fox pup huffed and turned her head, the temperature slowly dropping to normal late summer temperatures. "Fennekin…" Calem said sternly, diverting the attention of said pokémon towards him, "I want you to apologize to Pikachu for nearly attacking him."

Fennekin glared at her trainer, who stared right back with an equally frightening look. Eventually, Calem won out and Fennekin apologized.

"I'm sorry Pikachu," Fennekin said apologetically, turning to the mouse pokémon. "I don't know what came over me."

"Schizophrenia will do that," Froakie said.

While Calem had no idea what had come over Fennekin to attack Pikachu like that, Shauna had a pretty good one. "Calem," she asked, "can I talk to you and Fennekin later?" _I really wish I hadn't forgotten her medication,_ she thought.

"Sure," Calem agreed.

Fennekin's eyes widened. _Oh crap. I'm in _big _trouble, aren't I?_ Of course, hyperventilation soon ensued, causing the temperature that had finally decreased back to normal to rise again.

Calem knelt down next to Fennekin. "It's okay, Fennekin. She probably just wants to talk about why you overreacted."

The temperature stopped increasing. "_Fen…_"

"It's okay, Fennekin. Now come on, let's get some breakfast."

* * *

Meanwhile in Kanto, Ash was walking back from Professor Oak's laboratory as the sun was setting after a long day of training. The teenaged trainer was reflecting on the day with Counterpart while Pikachu was passed out on his shoulder.

_Let's see,_ Ash began, _I managed to create a small aura sphere._

_Yep, _Counterpart responded. _With my help and teasing about your crush._

_I don't-_

_Stop denying it when you know it's true!_

_You're insufferable._

_Wow, that's a big word for you._

_Shut up._

_Fine, fine. Let's see, Pidgeot came back._

_Yup!_ Ash looked at one of the pokéballs on his belt. Pidgeot had fit right in with the top tier of pokémon, and was a little wary of Charizard at first, but when she learned that he obeyed Ash now, she was happy to reunite with him, Pikachu, and the rest of his Kanto team, and meet the Non-Kanto team. Also, since it was the first day, nothing truly momentous happened. _I also decided on who I'm bringing to Kalos first._

_Oh?_

_Yes. Pikachu obviously, along with Pidgeot, so she can adjust to the team easier, and Sceptile and Snivy, as they have struck up some sort of teacher/student relationship. It may change over the next two weeks, though._

_What else has changed, oh, Brock's coming back, _Counterpart said.

_That'll be fun. Oh! There was also the bombshell that my dad's still alive and has been watching me for the better part of fifteen years._

_That'll take a bit to adjust._

_I just hope I can meet him eventually._

_That'd be interesting._

They had arrived at Ash's house. He went inside to greet his mother and sit down to dinner, anticipating the next week.

* * *

Back in Kalos, the quintet had finished breakfast and they were trekking through the forest. "So," Tierno began, talking to Calem. "Why did you and Shauna disappear earlier? I know Chespin grabbed you two for something, but what was it?"

Calem shrugged. "Apparently, our pokémon just got into an argument that had the capacity to, and nearly did, turn violent."

Fennekin's ears drooped at this. "_Fenne…_"

"What happened to start that?" Serena asked.

"From what I could gather," Calem responded, "Pikachu said something to Fennekin that angered her into shooting an ember at him, which brought Froakie into things because he had to shoot it down."

Trevor pondered this for a second. "What could have possibly caused that to happen?"

Everyone looked at Calem, who shrugged. Then everyone looked at Shauna. "Shauna," Serena began. "You've been unusually quiet. Do you know something?"

Shauna nodded. "Calem," she asked. "Did anything strange happen with Fennekin last night?"

"Yes, actually," Calem said. "I woke up in the middle of the night and Fennekin wasn't there, so I went looking for her-"

"And you didn't wake us?!" Serena all but shouted.

Calem cringed. "Not my brightest moment. Anyway, I found her shaking in fear of something near a cliff, managed to calm her down, and went back to sleep."

Shauna nodded. "Makes sense." She started fidgeting with her hands. "You, uh, you see, Fennekin is, um, well, Fennekin's schizophrenic and I sort of, uh, forgot her meds."

Trevor's palm met his face, Tierno groaned, Serena looked confused, and Calem looked pensive.

"Schizophrenic?" Serena asked.

Before Shauna could explain, Trevor answered. "Schizophrenia is a mental disease that causes vivid hallucinations, paranoia, random bouts of aggression, and slight memory loss, along with a myriad of other symptoms."

Fennekin sighed. _This is bad, this is bad, this is very, very not good. He'll probably think much less of me. Or worse, abandon me!_

"So, how bad is it?" Serena asked.

"If treated, it barely affects the schizophrenic, but if left untreated, it can drive the schizophrenic to suicide," Shauna explained.

Calem quickly cut in. "But that won't happen to Fennekin." He picked up the fox pup and looked her straight in her eyes. "We'll get you treatment before you can even think of that. And besides, you having schizophrenia doesn't make me think any less of you."

Fennekin was relieved. "_Fenne! Fen kin Fennekin!_"

Calem smiled, put Fennekin back on his shoulder, and started running. "Come on guys! We're only halfway through the forest! If we want to get to Santalune by lunch, we have to pick up the pace!"

Shauna smiled and ran after him, Serena following soon after. Trevor shouted "Wait up!" before taking off.

Tierno started a fast jog. "How do you guys run so quickly?!" He shouted ahead.

* * *

An hour or so later, Serena, Calem, and Fennekin arrived on Route Three. Calem looked around. "Where are the others?"

Serena pointed behind them, where Shauna ran up, panting. "How…do you…have…so much…stamina?!" She gasped, promptly collapsing.

Serena chuckled. "I guess Calem and I forgot that you three didn't have the same childhood as us."

Calem helped Shauna up, the latter of which had a slight, unnoticeable blush, likely due to the increased heart rate, but a fennekin who is looking for any shred of evidence to support her ships would not think that. "What sort of childhood would involve you gaining that much stamina?" Shauna asked.

"Serena and I hiked a lot back in Pallet Town," Calem explained. "There were quite a few mountains. Plus, it's right on the ocean."

Trevor ran in soon after, followed by Tierno, the former of which said he just needed to catch his breath, but the latter needed to rest for a good five minutes.

"You okay, Tierno?" Asked a concerned Calem. "Sorry about running."

"I'm good," Tierno gasped out, getting up. "But we're walking the rest of the way."

There was a collective nod of agreement.

"Ugh. Fine." Calem said with faux annoyance.

They made it five steps in before a preschooler challenged Calem to a battle. It was a pichu vs Fennekin. The pichu was young and very inexperienced, and Fennekin, though still inexperienced, had a better capacity to dodge and took the pichu down with two Embers, while it wasn't able to land a single hit. This, of course, reduced the kid to tears, who scooped up the pichu and ran off.

"Who even gives these kids pokémon!?" Calem continued to rant fifteen minutes after the kid ran off. "I mean, they're what? Five? FOUR?"

"Calem," Shauna said after finishing a battle against a youngster, "Just drop the subject. At least Fennekin got some experience out of the battle."

"Well, true," Calem grumbled. "Actually, come to think of it, Fennekin's my only pokémon. I'll probably head out to Route Twenty-Two to see if I can catch anything after we heal our pokémon at the pokémon center in Santalune."

"Mind if I join you?" Shauna asked.

"Nah, you can come along," Calem agreed.

* * *

Soon enough, the group arrived at Santalune City. For a city, it was on the smaller side, with roughly thirty thousand residents, living mostly in the spread out buildings on wide streets. The city as a whole exuded a large, but not overwhelming presence.

"So anyway," Serena said. "We're here, so we should've started planning a while ago. Where do you guys want to go for lunch?"

"There was a coffee shop we went to when heading to Aquacorde," Trevor suggested.

"I second that," Tierno supported. "That place was good."

"Before we do anything," Shauna began. "We should heal our pokémon and get to the center."

And so, the quintet continued to the Santalune City Pokémon Center. They walked up to the counter. "We'd like our pokémon healed, please," Calem said to the Nurse behind the counter whose name tag revealed her to be called Joy.

Joy smiled. "I'll just need to take your pokémon for a second." Fennekin hopped off of Calem's shoulder and Joy picked her up. "I'm guessing she doesn't like her pokéball?"

Calem nodded. "This may take a bit longer than normal," Joy explained. The rest of the quintet placed their pokéballs on the tray Nurse Joy brought out, who then took it to a room to heal the pokémon.

The group sat down at one of the tables in the pokémon center after grabbing something to eat from the buffet. "So," Calem started. "Should we come up with some sort of plan for the near future?"

"Makes sense," Shauna agreed.

"Alright. So, according to the letter he sent, Professor Sycamore will be in Santalune in three days," Calem said. "Shauna and I'll head out to Route Twenty-Two after lunch, see if we can catch anything. I'll probably watch a gym battle to figure out the gym leader's stratagems and a way to counter them. I'll train tomorrow and have the gym battle later in the day."

"I may take on the gym challenge as well," Serena chipped in. "I'm not quite sure, though."

"I'm not sure what I want to do," Shauna explained. "So I'll just follow Calem for now."

"I'll just continue photographing the around Santalune. Who knows, maybe I'll find a rare pokémon!" Trevor said excitedly.

"I'm just going to practice dancing," Tierno pitched in.

A wigglytuff walked up to the group carrying a tray with their pokéballs and Fennekin. The group retrieved their pokéballs and Fennekin jumped onto Calem's shoulder.

"All right, let's get some lunch!" Tierno exclaimed.

And so the five went out to get some lunch and split up. Trevor exploring Santalune, Serena heading over to one of the various public computers to research options, Tierno going…somewhere to practice, and Calem, Shauna, and Fennekin heading out to Route Twenty-Two.

They group walked in silence for a while before Shauna decided to speak. "So…" she began. "Are we looking for anything in particular?"

"No," Calem replied. "But I've heard that there are riolu in the area. It would be interesting to find one."

Little did the two of them know, however clichéd it sounds, they were being watched. By a riolu. In a tree.

Anyways, as for what the riolu was thinking: _This boy, he's…interesting. His aura seems to extend a bit into the future, then…shift? And continue on indefinitely? And the girl's too, but it shifts to something else. I'll continue monitoring them to find out._ The riolu then heard rustling below him, and somehow became even more hidden than he already was.

Back on the ground, in front of the two teens, a litleo, a shiny one at that, leapt out of the tall grass.

"Rawr. RAWR! Fear me, insignificant mortals!" The litleo shouted, mostly to Fennekin.

The fox pup, who had been walking next to Calem, heard this, then promptly fell onto her back and started laughing. Calem just looked confused, and Shauna, well…

"Oh my Arceus, it's so CUTE!" She shouted, running over and hugging it.

"Cute? CUTE?! I am Horripilante! I am so terrifying I scared my own family off!" The newly-named Horripilante replied.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Chespin, who Shauna had let out while they were under the tree, said, to which he earned himself a slap from Fennekin.

"You could have at least a bit more tact than that," The fox pup said in response.

And so, that is how Shauna wound up catching a shiny litleo. The lion cub attacked the tactless spiny nut pokémon, and Shauna took this as a challenge, as did Chespin. This is how it went:

"Chespin, use Tackle!" Shauna yelled. Chespin charged at his opponent, ramming into Horripilante full speed, dealing a great amount of damage. Horripilante, however, ignored it and shot an Ember at Chespin.

"E-nope! Not happening," Shauna said. "Chespin, use your vines to get above the Ember!" This move, however, was a bit too advanced and, seeing as Chespin was inexperienced, he was unable to pull off the maneuver. Therefore, the Ember burned through his vines and proceeded to impact Chespin himself, dealing nearly enough damage to make him faint.

"Hang in there, Chespin!" Shauna shouted to her starter. "We'll have to work on your defenses after this! Use Vine Whip!" Chespin then smacked Horripilante multiple times, causing the lion to become disoriented.

Shauna used this to her advantage. "Go pokéball!" She shouted, throwing the red and white sphere Horripilante's way. The ball struck the pokémon, and it was sucked in. The pokéball shook three times, then let out a pleasant 'ding' as the shiny litleo was captured.

"I caught a litleo!" Shauna exclaimed, then let the lion cub out of the pokéball. "Do you want a nickname?" She asked the shiny pokémon.

Horripilante nodded. "Alright," Shauna said. "First, are you male or female?" Horripilante walked over to some loose dirt and traced the Venusian symbol on the ground. Shauna pulled out a list of possible nicknames for female pokémon she had thought of.

"This could take a while," Fennekin said flatly.

Fifteen minutes later, the self-named Horripilante and Shauna still hadn't come up with a name for the litleo.

"Mary?" The cub shook her head. "Cleo?" Again, another no. Shauna thought for a moment, before snapping her fingers. "I think I have something you might like," she said to the lion cub. "Toba."

The shiny thought about it for a bit, then nodded, as if to say that it was an okay substitute for Horripilante.

"Isn't that the name of a supervolcano?" asked Calem. "I mean, it fits, but the name of a volcano that caused a small extinction event?"

Toba nodded. "She likes it," Shauna explained, and they began moving again.

The riolu, still in the tree, was observing them, and stealthily followed.

* * *

"You! I challenge you!" A fellow rookie trainer shouted, pointing at Calem. "Rattata go!"

The purple rodent materialized on the impromptu battlefield. "_Tat ratat!_"

Fennekin jumped onto the battlefield. "_Fen, fennekin!_"

"Rattata, use Tackle!" The trainer shouted.

Fennekin used Ember. It hurt the purple rodent, but didn't cause it to stop running, and it Tackled Fennekin.

"Fennekin, use Scratch while it's close!" Calem told his pokémon.

The fox pup Scratched at her enemy, then threw in a point-blank Ember for good measure. This blasted the two of them apart. Both were damaged, but Rattata seemed worse off, having been hit with two STAB Embers and a Scratch, while only managing to Tackle his opponent.

"Rattata," the trainer ordered. "Use Focus Energy and Quick Attack!"

Fennekin had prepared to Scratch at Rattata when he came close, but Focus Energy charged up faster than she was anticipating, and the fox pup was hit with a powered-up Quick Attack. She Howled, and Scratched at the rodent with a boosted attack. This made Rattata collapse, unable to battle, but Fennekin wasn't much better off, and hit the ground moments later.

Walking over to the battlefield, Calem attended to his pokémon with a potion. He looked at the other trainer, who was walking over. "Do you have a potion?" Calem asked.

"Yeah," said the other trainer. "I'm Jay, by the way."

"Calem," Calem responded. He stood up after helping Fennekin up, and offered Jay his hand. "Nice battle."

Jay accepted the handshake, and the two went their separate ways.

_So, that's what a battle is like,_ the riolu thought.

* * *

As Ash walked back into the living room, he saw his mother reading the newspaper. "Well, that's interesting," She said.

Ash, now curious, asked, "What is it?"

"Apparently, a chain of islands was recently discovered, and the indigenous peoples call it Alola."

"Huh. I though every land area had already been discovered."

"Apparently not. The people there, from what we've been able to translate, say that their legendary pokémon were protecting their secrets, but one recently went missing. Something else, when people first began to inhabit the islands, they brought over some pokémon not found there, and they adapted to a different environment. They even changed their type!"

"Really?"

"Yes! There's an Ice and Fairy-Type Vulpix and Ninetales living in the mountains, and a Dark and Normal-Type Rattata and Raticate that specialize in thievery!"

"Sounds like someplace Gary would want to go to someday."

"Yes, yes it does. Now, what have you been up to today?"

"Training. Also, Pidgeot came back."

"Wait, Pidgeot's back? I'll have to see her. Anyways, you should get to bed."

* * *

Eventually, Calem, Shauna, Fennekin, Chespin, and Toba decided to head back.

"It's a shame I wasn't able to catch anything," Calem said.

"_Fe, Fenne._" Fennekin agreed.

"Fennekin did learn Howl, though," Shauna countered, looking at the bright side of things.

"True," Calem began, but was interrupted by a rustling in the trees. "What was that?"

Suddenly, a riolu jumped down in front of the group.

"I am Riolu," Riolu said, "and I wish to challenge one of you trainers to a battle for the option of being captured."

Both Calem and Shauna looked to their pokémon in confusion, and Fennekin walked onto the field. "Sure, I'll battle you," she said.

Riolu nodded, then bowed, and charged in with a Quick Attack. Fennekin, startled by the speed of which the attack was executed and the sudden begining of the battle, was unable to dodge, and was hit in the side.

"Was that really a necessary way to start the battle?" Fennekin asked. She turned to him, and spat out an Ember, which he dodged, though barely.

"It caught you by surprise, didn't it?" Riolu asked, then used Quick Attack again, but this time, the shortest distance from point A to point B was right at Fennekin's face.

"Fennekin, use Ember, now!" Calem gave the first command all battle, though it had taken the seven seconds of battle to fully realize that the speedy battle was happening.

The fox pup shot an Ember right out at Riolu's face. It stung, a lot, but barely slowed him down, and he rammed into Fennekin and switched to Bite, chomping down on Fennekin's leg.

"OW!" Fennekin Howled, and Scratched at Riolu until he let go, and spat an Ember out to keep him away. She massaged her bitten limb, glaring at Riolu so fiercely he shivered, but didn't let it stop him.

Riolu used quick attack again, this time aiming for Fennekin's side. She responded by Howling again, and using Scratch just as he reached her. Riolu had anticipated this, however, and switched to Endure.

By the time Fennekin had figured out the flaw in her plan, it was too late, and she hit him with an attack.

Calem, realizing what happened, shouted, "Fennekin, get out of there!"

"Counter," was all that Riolu said. The punch that was hard enough to send Fennekin flying for a meter or so demonstrated his point well enough. The energy expenditure was too much for Riolu, though, and he collapsed onto his knees.

Miraculously, Fennekin managed to get up on shaky legs, her bitten one nearly giving out. She shot her trainer a look that basically said, 'What are you waiting for? Throw the pokéball already!'

"Oh, right," Calem said, and grabbed an empty pokéball and threw it at Riolu. The ball shook thrice, and then dinged, signifying a successful capture.

Calem walked over to the ball and let the emanation pokémon out of it. Riolu looked a little woozy at first, but quickly steeled himself. "That was the strangest experience of my life," he said to Fennekin.

She shrugged. "I opted to stay out of mine."

"So," Calem began. "Two questions. First, do you want a nickname?"

Riolu shook his head.

"Okay then that makes this easier. Second question: do you want to stay outside your pokéball?" Calem asked.

This time, Riolu nodded.

"Welcome to the team, Riolu," Calem said, then applied a potion each to him and Fennekin.

Shauna walked over. "That was interesting," she said.

"Yes, yes it was," Calem agreed.

Riolu walked over to Fennekin. "Very nice battle," he said.

"Yes," Fennekin agreed. "But don't think I'm not remembering the fact that you bit me. How do you even know Bite?"

"My family tree's a bit messed up," Riolu explained.

"Huh," Fennekin said. "By the way, Calem's going to scan you with his pokédex. Don't be startled."

**Riolu, the emanation pokémon. Riolu are generally hard workers, and can discern the emotional and physical shape of others and project their own via the use of Aura. Riolu also tend to have a strong moral code and sense of justice. This riolu is male. Active ability: Steadfast. Hidden ability: Prankster (locked). Known moves: Endure, Quick Attack, Foresight, Counter, and Bite (egg move). Egg moves: Bite (unlocked) and Bullet Punch (locked).**

Riolu blinked. "I did not know that I had Bullet Punch," he stated.

"I didn't know that I had Hypnosis until I was scanned, either," Fennekin responded, then gestured toward the opening back to Santalune. "We need to get to a pokémon center."

"Come to think of it," Calem said to his pokémon as they walked, "I'll probably need to return you to your pokéballs if you faint or I need to return you on the battlefield, as to not disrupt things. Is that okay?"

Riolu nodded immediately, seeing the need for it, and Fennekin took a few seconds before eventually deciding on the necessity of it.

* * *

A quick trip to the pokémon center later, and Calem, Fennekin, and Riolu were standing outside the Santalune Gym. Shauna had opted to stay at the pokémon center and talk to Serena.

"Alright," Calem said. "We spectate and plan today, then train and battle tomorrow. That sound good to you two?"

His two pokémon nodded. "_Fenne._"

"_Lu._"

The three of them walked into the gym. "Are you a challenger?" the receptionist asked. "If so, there's already a match going on, so you'll have to wait."

"I'm just here to spectate," Calem explained.

The receptionist led them to the seating area, then went back to her desk. The four took their seats, then looked out at the battle. The gym leader, Viola, had a surskit on her side, and the opposing trainer had a pidgey. The floor had also been iced up to the surskit's advantage, as it is the pond skater pokémon.

"Pidgey, use Gust!" the trainer shouted.

"_Gey, pi-pidgey!_" Pidgey exclaimed.

"Dodge it, Surskit!" Viola ordered the pond skater. "Then use Ice Beam!"

Surskit successfully dodged the gust of wind, then shot a beam of Ice Type energy at Pidgey. It connected, causing the tiny bird pokémon to fall and faint.

The challenger returned his pokémon. "Good job, Pidgey," he said. "Froakie, you're up!"

The bubble frog entered the battlefield. "Use Quick Attack," commanded the trainer. Froakie, having no trouble with the ice, attacked Surskit repeatedly. It appeared that Surskit had already taken some damage from Pidgey, and it fainted.

Viola returned Surskit. "Vivillon, go!"

"Froakie, use Bubble!" Shouted the trainer.

"Use Light Screen, then Sleep Powder!" Viola responded.

Vivillon blocked the worst of the Bubble with Light Screen then began to spread sleep-inducing powder towards Froakie.

"Use Quick Attack to get out of there!" The challenger shouted.

Viola responded by ordering Vivillon: "Use Gust to spread the powder throughout the battlefield!"

Froakie attempted to hold his breath, but eventually succumbed to the powder and fell asleep. "Use Struggle Bug repeatedly!" Viola shouted. Vivillon did just that, and Froakie fainted.

The trainers returned their pokémon, and shook hands. "It was a good try," Viola said.

"Thanks," the other trainer replied. "I'll be coming back for a rematch."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Viola replied.

Calem, and his pokémon exited the building. "Alright guys," he said to his pokémon. "We'll be training tomorrow, and hopefully squeaking the battle in as well."

"This is so exciting!" Fennekin all but squealed to Riolu.

"The battle is tomorrow," Riolu reminded her.

"Yeah, but it'll be my first fully official battle! I can be excited if I want."

Riolu looked faintly confused, but still replied, "Okay then."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well, the secret with Fennekin is out. I know it might seem to be a bit early on, but I have a plan on where to take this. Also, Calem finally caught a pokémon. Only took him a route and a half.


	4. The First Gym

_Chapter IV: The First Gym_

The five trainers had regrouped at the pokémon center, and Calem was already discussing plans with his pokémon. "All right," he began, "the first major thing we have to look out for is the iced-up floor. How are we going to get past that?"

He and his pokémon thought for a moment. In fact, Fennekin thought so hard that she subconsciously started cycling warm air through her ears, not much, but at least enough that Calem and Riolu noticed. "That's it!" Calem suddenly exclaimed. "Fennekin, you can cycle warm air through your ears, right?"

The fox pup nodded, realizing where this was going. "_Fen._"

"Hot enough to melt ice?" Calem asked.

Fennekin nodded again. "_Fen, fennekin fen._"

"Great," Calem started. "That's halfway through one problem. Riolu, any ideas as to what you can do to solve the ice problem?"

Riolu thought for a minute, before coming up negative. "_Lu, rio._"

Calem sighed. "Well, I guess it depends on who she sends out first, as well. If Surskit is out first, then Riolu, you'll be out until the field is iced-up, then Fennekin's out until Surskit faints. If Vivillon's out first, then Fennekin will be out. How far can you shoot an Ember?"

Fennekin shook her head as if to say, 'Not far enough.'

"We'll have to work on range, then," Calem determined. "And Riolu doesn't have any ranged attacks, so we'll see if the local pokémart has a Hidden Power TM."

Riolu nodded. "_Riolu, ri lu._"

"Well, it seems as if you have all this worked out," Serena said, walking over.

"Yep," Calem replied. "You taking on the gym challenge?"

"I've decided not to," Serena said. "There's this thing called pokémon performing, though, that seems interesting."

"What are you guys talking about?" Shauna asked.

"Apparently there's something called pokémon performing that Serena's interested in," Calem relayed.

"You're interested in performing?" Shauna asked. "It's interested me for a while as well. It's like contests in Hoenn and Sinnoh, but without the battle sections."

"Hmm," Serena said. "I'll look into it."

"Did you guys know that the local gym leader is a photographer?" Trevor spoke up.

"Here we go again," Tierno said exasperatedly. "Always about the photography."

"Photography is a perfectly viable hobby," Trevor retorted. "An art, really."

"So is dancing!"

"Who said anything about dancing?"

"Are these two always like this?" Calem asked Shauna.

"Not always," Shauna replied, "but this could take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour."

"Well then, I'm going to bed. You two can continue talking about pokémon performing if you'd like. Night!" Calem said, then got up and was about to go to the pokémon center's second floor when he realized something. "Wait! Serena, we forgot to call Mom!"

Serena just shook her head at him. "I already took care of it."

Calem blinked. "Oh," he said before making his way upstairs.

* * *

In mid-morning Kanto, Ash got off the phone. "_Pika?_" Pikachu asked.

"I made some calls," Ash explained. "Squirtle's coming back, along with Primeape."

"_Pika, chu pikachu!_"

* * *

The next morning, Calem's alarm went off, startling him and his two pokémon awake at the absurd hour of five in the morning. Without even getting up, he picked it up and nearly threw it across the room before remembering that it was his phone. "Which one of you set the alarm this early?" He asked.

Riolu raised his paw.

"Why?" Calem asked.

Riolu rolled his eyes and grabbed Calem's schedule out of his backpack.

_5:00 AM: Wake up & get breakfast_

_5:30 AM: Start training._

The rest was blank. Riolu gave Calem a look that was ignored, and Calem slammed his head back into the pillow with a groan. Fennekin just went back to sleep, and Riolu rolled his eyes again, and with a push, Calem and his starter fell off the bed.

"OW!"

* * *

Half an hour and one pokémart visit later, Calem and his pokémon trudged out to an open space on Route Twenty-Two, Riolu practically skipping ahead with Calem and Fennekin sulking along behind the small jackal at being woken up so early.

"_Fe, fenne._" She yawned.

The pokémart had a Hidden Power TM, but it took the rest of Calem's money to pay for it. Of course, Riolu was extremely happy to be learning a new move. And something else, but he wouldn't tell Fennekin.

"Ughhhhhhh!" Fennekin groaned. "It is way too early to be out here! How are you so chipper?"

"I'm learning a new move and…you'll see!" Riolu responded.

"OH COME ON!" Fennekin shouted.

A few minutes later, Riolu said, "We're here!"

"…that's a small cave." Fennekin said blandly.

Riolu grinned. "Mom! Are you in there?" he yelled into the cave.

A lucario poked her head out from behind the cave wall. "Riolu! You had me worried sick- is that a fennekin?"

Fennekin waved sheepishly. "Hi."

Riolu nodded. "She's my teammate now!"

"Wait," the lucario said. "Teammate? But that would imply that you were captured." Then she noticed Calem standing a few feet away. "A HUMAN! Stand back Riolu, I'll-"

"Wait!" Riolu shouted. "He's my trainer now, okay? Just, look at his aura."

Riolu's mother did that, and promptly tripped over nothing from the backlash. "What?" She asked. "How…but…it's a future event! I shouldn't be getting this kind of backlash! Unless…"

"Unless what?" Fennekin asked.

"Riolu," the lucario began, and Fennekin pouted at not being recognized. The lucario sighed. "And Fennekin, something dangerous is going to happen to your trainer at some point in the future. Something big. Very big."

This sent shivers down Riolu's and Fennekin's spines. "So, on that note," Riolu began. "Should we start training?"

Fennekin nodded. "Want to watch?" she asked Riolu's mother.

She shrugged, "It'll give me a chance to give you some advice."

* * *

The group had found a clearing, and Calem decided to get started. "Alright, so Riolu, you'll be working on Hidden Power for most of the time." He took the TM out of his backpack and Riolu walked over. "Apparently, the disk just has to touch your forehead."

Calem touched the TM to Riolu's forehead, and there was a great rush of knowledge for Riolu. "Woah," he said. "How is the type determined?"

"Let's test this out," Calem said, only having heard "_Ri, riolu._" "Use hidden power on that rock," Calem ordered, pointing to the rock in question. A stream of flame came out from a position between the emanation pokémon's paws, though it went nowhere near the rock.

"Well," Riolu began, "I certainly wasn't expecting that."

Riolu's mother blinked. "You can shoot fire now?"

"Huh," Calem said. "We have to work on aim, but the Fire Type Hidden Power will be good in a Bug Type gym."

Riolu got right back to trying to control the flame, and Calem moved on to Fennekin's training. "All right, now, we need to get you to consciously increase the air temperature to the point that ice melts."

Fennekin concentrated. The grass promptly caught fire.

"…uhhhh…" the fox pup said nervously.

Riolu's mother used rock slide to smother the flames. "I guess I'm on fire patrol then," she said.

Fennekin grinned sheepishly. "Oops…"

"It's okay," said Riolu's mother. "We all make mistakes."

Fennekin tried again. This time, she managed to keep the grass from catching fire. Instead, she just increased the air temperature to unbearable levels, rather than the ground. Everyone jumped away from the sphere of hot air and waited for it to cool down again. "So," Riolu began. "It appears that Fennekin has two levels of heat emission: ground and air."

"Heh heh, ummm…sorry," Fennekin said.

Seeing Fennekin's apologetic look, Calem said, "It's fine, Fennekin. We just need to work on better control."

He turned back to Riolu, "Can I see your hidden power again?"

* * *

Some time had passed. Riolu was able to fire Hidden Power in a straight line, and was currently working on moving targets. Fennekin had finally figured out how to control how hot the air surrounding her was and direct it in a certain direction, and she was currently working on increasing the range and aim of her Ember.

Calem "batted" another "baseball" towards Riolu. Really it was just a somewhat spherical rock and a large stick. Anyways, Riolu shot a hidden power just in front of where the rock was, and finally managed to hit it.

"YES! That took forever!" Riolu shouted.

"Nice work, Riolu," Calem said. "You can take a break if you want. I'll go work with Fennekin."

Riolu walked over to his mother and sat down. "That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

"Well," Riolu's mother began. "You were using a different energy than you're used to." Fennekin used Ember on something explosive in the background. "You know, you and Fennekin both have a lot of latent power."

"Really?" Riolu asked.

"Yes, actually," the lucario explained. "You just have to unlock it."

"To be honest," Riolu replied, "I'm pretty sure Fennekin is stronger than me."

"I would put you on equal footing, actually," Riolu's mother responded.

"What?"

"You aren't at all behind her."

Another explosion.

"She _is_ extremely powerful, though," Riolu said.

"So are you. Not many _lucario_ can see future aura at all, let alone as far as you did."

"Alright Fennekin," Calem said, interrupting Riolu's and his mother's thoughts. "Let's try this once more, then lunch."

With the promise of food, Fennekin shot the most powerful Ember Riolu had ever seen. It went about fifteen meters.

The fox pup blinked. "YES!"

Calem smiled. "Great job guys!" he exclaimed as Riolu ran over, followed by his mother. "Let's get some lunch."

* * *

After lunch, Fennekin and Riolu were both ready to resume training. "Alright," Calem said. "Riolu, you'll be focusing on trying to unlock Bullet Punch. Fennekin, you'll be seeing if you can unlock Hypnosis."

Fennekin looked unsure. "What, exactly, am I supposed to practice _on_?"

Calem looked confused for a second before realizing what was going on. "Oh! Riolu, would you mind-"

Riolu cut him off by nodding. "I'm fine with it, sir."

Fennekin giggled at this. "You're calling him 'sir' now?"

"Yes," Riolu responded. "I find it amusing."

Riolu's mother smiled at the exchange. _I never thought I'd think this about a human, but Calem seems decent enough._

Calem, oblivious to the whole thing, had come up with an idea. "Riolu, if you stood on one side of the rock you were practicing with earlier for your stationary target, you could try Bullet Punch while Fennekin is trying Hypnosis."

The two pokémon nodded and went over to the rock. "Mom, any tips on how to get Steel Type energy working?" Riolu asked.

His mother smirked. "Have you ever hear of the phrase 'fists of steel?"

"Why do I have a sudden sense of impending doom?" Riolu asked.

Fennekin chuckled again and went to her side of the rock. She closed her eyes, and started to think. _He's tired, and probably wants to go to sleep anyway. Mom said that psychic influences work better if there's a truth to it anyway. He wants to go to sleep…he wants to go to sleep…he wants to go to sleep..._

Meanwhile, Riolu's mother was trying to get him to learn Bullet Punch. "Alright," she said. "From what your father told me, he got Bullet Punch to work by punching a rock hard and fast."

"That's it?" Riolu asked. "Punch a rock?"

His mother nodded. "And also while thinking of the Steel Type, apparently."

"Okay," Riolu responded, and got to work punching a rock.

Calem looked on. _What to do, what to do?_ He thought to himself. He pulled out a book. _Might as well educate myself on where we're going next._

* * *

Six hours had passed. Riolu, was still punching the now heavily abused rock, though his fists were starting to get a silvery gleam. He was also feeling quite tired by this point. Fennekin was still had her eyes shut, though if you got close to her, you wound up with the almost overwhelming desire to lay down and take a nap, even though most of it was directed at Riolu. Calem had actually fallen asleep with is book open to a page about Cyllage City. Riolu's mother was keeping watch, just in case.

There was an audible _crack_ as Riolu's now silver-glowing fists punched the rock into powder. Then inertia decided to jump in and his fists continued downward, forming a small crater about a decimeter in diameter.

"Huh," Riolu said. "So that's how it works." He looked up at his teammate, who then took that moment to open her eyes. _They're glowing a dark blue._ Riolu noted as he slipped into unconsciousness. _I liked them when they were amber._

A voice nudged at his already tiring mind. _Sleep._

A _thud_ was heard as Riolu hit the ground, lightly snoring. Fennekin blinked, and her eyes returned to normal. _Owwwww…_ she thought, _my head hurts. Was he trying to block it or something?_

Riolu's mother came over. "I think he might have been subconsciously attempting to block the effect," she said, looking at her son.

"Maybe," Fennekin replied. Then her stomach growled. "I should probably wake Calem up. Can you take care of Riolu?"

The lucario nodded.

"Thanks," Fennekin replied, then went off to wake the sleeping trainer.

Riolu's mother turned to her son, and proceeded to shout at him. "WAKE UP!" she yelled.

Riolu immediately jumped to his feet. "What?"

"Apparently, training's over for the day," the lucario explained. "I'm guessing you're going back to the city?"

"Probably," Riolu responded.

There was silence for a bit before the mother broke it. "Are you okay with being on a team?"

Riolu nodded. "Of course. Besides, from what you've said, someone will have to protect Calem in the future."

* * *

"Bye Mrs. Riolu's mom!" Fennekin yelled backwards, as she, Riolu, and Calem walked out of the clearing. "It was nice to meet you!"

"It was a pleasure to meet you as well, Fennekin!" Riolu's mother called back. "Make sure you all visit at some point!"

"We will!" Riolu shouted. "Bye Mom!"

"Bye sweetie!" She replied.

As the trio left the clearing, Calem turned to his two pokémon. "The gym's probably closed by now. What do you two say about meeting up with the others and having dinner?"

The two agreed, and they headed back to Santalune.

Back at the pokémon center, Serena and Shauna were discussing performing. "So, you show off your pokémon in such a way that it makes you and them look good?" Serena asked.

"Yep!" Shauna replied.

"Huh, I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before." Serena said, before turning to her two pokémon. "What do you two think?"

They nodded. "I like this idea," Froakie responded.

"I think it'll be fun," Pansage replied.

At that moment, the door opened, and Calem, Fennekin, and Riolu walked through. The former dropped off the pokémon with Nurse Joy to be healed, and sat down with Shauna and his sister. "So," Calem asked, "what have you two been doing today?"

"I've been learning about performing," Serena replied.

"I'm also thinking about going into performing," Shauna said, "and I managed to warm Toba up to it and Chespin wants to."

"Good for you," Calem responded. "Hey, do you know where Trevor and Tierno are?"

"No," Shauna replied. "But they were in a pretty heated argument before you got here. So anyway, how was your day?"

"We weren't able to sneak in the gym battle today, but we got some training in," Calem responded. "Riolu can now shoot fire and punch small rocks to dust, and Fennekin can control the air temperature around her and make people fall asleep."

The two girls blinked at that. "They were able to unlock egg moves that quickly?"

"Well," Calem began, "they aren't exactly super powerful yet."

Serena nodded. "I wouldn't expect them to be."

A voice came over the PA system. "Calem Proulx, your pokémon have been healed."

Calem went over to the front desk and picked up Fennekin and Riolu. When he came back over, Trevor and Tierno had returned, though they weren't talking to each other. Their pokémon, on the other hand, were getting along just fine, and Fennekin and Riolu went over to mingle with them.

"So, what were you two up to today?" asked Froakie.

"Training," answered Riolu.

"So, I'm guessing you two are ready for that gym battle tomorrow?" Pikachu asked.

"Yup," Fennekin replied this time. "Riolu can now shoot fire and I can make pokémon fall asleep with my mind."

"Is it just me," Corphish began. "Or does that seem extremely hard to believe?"

_Thud_. Corphish fell asleep. Fennekin blinked. "That was…surprisingly easy. His mind was weird, though."

All the other pokémon subconsciously took a step away from Riolu and Fennekin. "So," asked the emanation pokémon. "Anything interesting happen to you guys?"

"Nothing much," Toba said. "I mean, I learned about performing. It's interesting."

"We met the gym leader," Flabébé inputted. "She gave Trevor some tips about photography."

"Owwwww…" Corphish moaned, waking up. "Remind me never to doubt you two again."

Soon, the group decided to go get dinner, and the fifteen of them went over to the buffet area of the pokémon center. Afterwards, Calem and his two pokémon decided to call it an early night, as they had a gym battle the next day.

Calem was quick to fall asleep after collapsing on the bed. Fennekin, after making sure that her trainer was asleep, whispered, "Riolu! You awake?"

The emanation pokémon yawned. "Yes. Is there something wrong?"

"Just a question," Fennekin replied. "I heard some of your thoughts earlier while I was using hypnosis. You…you like my eyes?"

That left Riolu sputtering. "Well…um…err…well…that question came entirely out of left field."

Fennekin rolled her eyes. "Just answer the question."

The jackal-like pokémon sighed. "If it is any consolation, yes. I do think you have beautiful eyes."

The fox pup smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Riolu replied.

The two then drifted off to sleep with Fennekin smiling and Riolu just being confused. _Where the heck did that question come from?_

* * *

As the sun rose in the Kanto region, Ash, Counterpart, and Pikachu awoke. _Goooooooood morning,_ Counterpart said. _We're sure to get some training done today._

_Not now,_ Ash groaned in response. _It's too early for this._

_I'm teaching you how to communicate with your pokémon today._

_That's nice._

_And Primeape's coming back today._

Ash shouted something that probably should not be written in print.

"LANGUAGE!" Shouted Pikachu.

"ASHTON KETCHUM!" Delia shouted.

"SORRY MOM!"

_What?_ Counterpart asked. _It's not like _I _started this. At least not on purpose. Totally not._

After that exchange, and Ash eating breakfast, the group were waiting at Oak's lab for Primeape to arrive. Finally, Anthony showed up with the beige-furred pig monkey behind him. Ash smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Primeape."

Primeape nodded. "Ash, Pikachu. It's been a while."

The mouse pokémon nodded as well. "Six years is quite a while. How 'bout I introduce you to the others."

"That would be nice," Primeape agreed.

* * *

While Primeape was being sufficiently traumatized by the sheer number of Ash's pokémon at Oak's lab, Ash himself was being taught how to understand pokémon.

_Alright,_ Counterpart explained, _aura is a GREAT way to see how pokémon are feeling, and it just needs to be translated into words._

_Just,_ Ash responded sarcastically.

_Actually, it's pretty easy,_ Counterpart replied. _After sufficiently analyzing their aura, you just KNOW what the pokémon is saying. Sort of like how I just KNOW you have a crush on Serena._

Ash mentally sighed. _This was all just an elaborate ploy to tease me about my crush, wasn't it?_

_FINALLY! YOU ADMITTED IT!_

_Arceus dang it!_

_Also, no, it wasn't a ploy, I was just using it as an example, but it worked out pretty well._

_Can you just teach me how to understand pokémon?_

* * *

"So, what's new around here?" Primeape asked.

Pikachu chuckled. "You'll see. Oh, you'll see."

Charizard landed behind them. "Primeape! It's great to see you again."

The pig monkey turned around, then blinked. "That's new." There was a rumbling in the ground. "What is that?"

Ash's thirty tauros ran up. "Greetings, Primeape," said the leader of the herd. "We have heard of your great feats of strength, and have come to properly give you an introduction to the ranch of Oak through battle. Ready boys?"

"Hey!" eleven of them shouted.

The lead one sighed. "And girls?"

"Aye!" They all shouted at once, and Pikachu and Charizard moved out of the way.

The tauros charged. Primeape actually managed to knock out around fifteen of the bull pokémon before he was finally overwhelmed, and trampled. The lead one shakily got to his hooves, and said, "That was a fine testament to your strength." Then he promptly collapsed.

"Will they be alright?" Primeape asked, pushing himself up. "They wanted a fight, but I don't want to permanently injure any of Ash's team."

"The tauros are tough," said a deep, almost rumbling voice from behind Primape. "Not as tough as me, I suppose, but they'll be fine." Primeape had to look very far up to see the huge creature's face. "Snorlax, at your service," said the pokémon. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

"You're new," Primeape remarked.

Snorlax chuckled. "I'm not the only 'new' pokémon, though compared to some others, I've been on the team for quite some time."

"My definition of 'new' is 'joining after I left.' So, how many new pokémon are there?" Primeape asked.

"We'll have to get Bulbasaur to call all of them," Charizard explained.

"He never evolved?" Primeape asked as the four walked to the sunning spot that Bulbasaur had claimed for himself.

"He's decided to get as strong as possible as a bulbasaur first, then evolve and repeat for being an ivysaur," Pikachu explained.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Bulbasaur asked, not even looking up from his rock. "I'll call the others. It's nice to see you again after so long, Primeape. How's it been?"

"Training, training, and more training," Primeape answered. "I've gotten tired of Fighting Type only tournaments, and want to compete in an actual pokémon league. What about you?"

"Well," Bulbasaur began, firing the solar beam in the air. "Mostly I've been stuck here at the lab, but Ash has decided that we're training for another week or so before he's taking us to Kalos. We'll all be there at some point. Oh, here they come."

_All_ of Ash's pokémon had showed up behind Primeape. Astonished from the sheer number of them, he fainted.

* * *

Back in Kalos, Calem, Fennekin, and Riolu were fast asleep. Fennekin, however, was not exactly restful, instead locked in a nightmare.

_Wh-where am I?_ asked the fox pup to herself. She was in some sort of black void. _Hello? Is anyone there?_ Then her schizophrenia started to kick in. _Am I dead? NO! No, I…I just can't be dead. I don't _feel _dead. I must be dreaming, then. Can I control it?_

Fennekin attempted to exert her small psychic force over what she thought was a dream, though it didn't work. She tried again, and the dream responded, but not in the way she was expecting.

It started off pleasantly enough, with it starting with a small fennekin in view, with the edges of Fennekin's vision blurred. As the dream went on, the edges of Fennekin's vision became more and more solid. After the small fennekin, it was another fennekin fighting a venipede. Then a braixen fighting a gogoat, followed by a delphox battling a pikachu.

Then the dream started to take a turn for the worse. A huge weapon firing, a man with bright orange hair pulling out a gun (at the speed the images were starting to fly by, Fennekin couldn't make out his features), and a delphox battling Yveltal, the pokémon of death and destruction. Though it was the last image that scared the fox pup the most. All her friends and family, everyone she ever knew and loved, lying in a pile dead, and a small group of people cackling maniacally, watching as the Kalos Region, and the rest of the world, burned.

This final image was surrounded by a completely solid blood red outline.

While all this had been going on in Fennekin's head, she had been muttering in her sleep. Riolu was a light sleeper anyway, and had heard this with his very sensitive ears, waking him up. He walked over to where the fox pup was, and noticed that she was shaking. _Must be a nightmare,_ Riolu thought, and he gently shook Fennekin in an attempt to wake her up.

When that failed, he tried shaking her harder, to no avail. So, he just decided to whisper sternly: "Fennekin, you're having a nightmare. It's all in your head. Wake up."

That seemed to do the trick, as Fennekin opened her eyes quickly and jumped up, visibly shaken. When she realized that nothing was going on, she settled back down, and looked at Riolu. "Thank you," she said softly, before managing to snuggle up to Riolu.

Riolu, at this point, was extremely surprised. "Uhhhh, you're welcome?"

Fennekin was already asleep, and Riolu was stuck. _I just hope we wake up before Calem does,_ the emanation pokémon thought.

* * *

They didn't wake up before Calem did. The trainer smiled, and very stealthily managed to get out of bed without waking the two. He quickly got changed and ran downstairs, where his friends and sister were already eating breakfast. Trevor and Tierno seemed to have made up.

Calem nearly slid in front of the table where they were eating. "Trevor, I need to borrow your camera," Calem said quickly.

Trevor hugged his camera protectively. "Why, exactly, to you want to borrow my camera?"

Calem considered this for a moment, before saying, "Actually, you guys might all want to see this." There was a pause. "And you never know when you might need blackmail opportunities." He quickly ran back upstairs.

Trevor sighed. "Well, we might as well see what all this is about."

And so, the quartet quickly and quietly made their way up the stairs and into the pokémon center room Calem was using. When they went inside, they were greeted by the sight of a fennekin and a riolu cuddling up together. This was immediately met with quiet _awwwww_s throughout the room, and Trevor snapping a photo.

This wound up waking the two pokémon up, who, upon realizing the position they were in, immediately separated. And fell off the bed.

"Owwwww," Riolu groaned. Then he and Fennekin noticed the five humans in the room, who were currently laughing at the duo's expense. "We shall never speak of this again," the emanation pokémon told Fennekin.

"Agreed," Fennekin said in response.

Sometime later, Calem and his two pokémon looked up at the gym. "Alright guys," Calem said. "This is what we've been waiting for. You two ready?"

"Hell yeah!" Fennekin replied quickly.

"I am certainly ready as well," Riolu agreed. "Though Fennekin, I wouldn't exactly take you as one to say 'Hell yeah.'"

"This battle was delayed a day. I can and will be excited enough to say 'Hell yeah,'" the fox pup replied flatly.

Calem, oblivious to his pokémon's exchange, assumed their answers were affirmative and strolled into the gym with Fennekin and Riolu following. The receptionist, the same as last time, looked up. "Are you challenging this time?" she asked.

"Yes," Calem replied.

"Name?" the receptionist asked.

"Calem Proulx," responded the trainer.

"Hometown?" asked the receptionist.

"Vaniville Town," Calem replied.

"Alright, you're good to go," said the receptionist. "Challenger's way to the battlefield is that way." She pointed towards a hallway off to the side.

Calem nodded, and set off down the hallway filled with pictures of Bug Type pokémon. Calem and his pokémon looked on in awe, though one picture in particular caught their eye. It was a picture of a family of caterpie, metapod, and butterfree with the apparent parents being a regular male butterfree with an orange scarf, and a pink female butterfree.

"I had to travel to Hoenn to get that picture," came a voice from behind Calem and his pokémon. It was Gym Leader Viola. "It seemed like both parents had been trained before, and had been released into the wild to breed."

"How did you know, just out of curiosity?" Calem asked.

"The fact that they weren't skittish at all around me was a large indicator," Viola explained. "I could also tell from that that they were from Kanto; it's one of the few places in the world that customarily releases butterfree to breed. Did you know that the great butterfree migration is passing over Kalos soon? If you look closely, you might be able to see those two. Are you a challenger?"

"Yes, I'm a challenger," Calem replied affirmatively.

Viola smiled. "Then follow me."

Viola led Calem, Fennekin, and Riolu through the winding corridor to the battlefield. "I keep having to make new additions to my gym when I get new photographs," Viola said. "Eventually I might just add an art gallery to the gym and have challengers go through a different room, probably some sort of challenge to line up with the other gyms in the region. But anyway, you're here for the badge. How many badges do you already have?"

"This'll be my first gym battle," Calem replied.

"Alrighty then!" Viola said excitedly. "I know what pokémon I'm using, and the ref will explain the rest of the rules."

Finally, they emerged onto the battlefield. Viola took her side on the field, and Calem took his. "This will be a match between Gym Leader Viola of Santalune City and Challenger Calem of Vaniville Town," the ref called out. "Each trainer can use two pokémon in the single battle format, and only the challenger can switch out. Gym Leader Viola, send out your first pokémon!"

Viola sent out Surskit with a smirk. "I hope you've prepared, Calem!"

"Challenger Calem, send out your first pokémon!" the ref called out.

"Riolu, you're up!" Calem cried in response. "Don't worry Viola, I've prepared."

"Battle begin!" called out the ref.

"Alright Surskit, start things off with a Bubble!" Viola ordered.

"Take THIS!" Surskit yelled at Riolu.

"Use Quick Attack to dodge!" Calem cried out in response. "Then swing back around!"

Riolu easily dodged the Bubble, then swung back around and hit Surskit. "Take _that_," Riolu said.

Surskit was nowhere near fainting, though, and Viola called out, "Use Sweet Scent followed by your own Quick Attack!"

"You aren't dodging this one!" Surskit shouted at Riolu while the pond skater was releasing a smell that would reduce Riolu's willingness to evade. Once Riolu was rooted in one spot by the scent, Surskit went in with Quick Attack.

"Use Bite while it's close!" Calem yelled in response.

Riolu took the Quick Attack, taking some damage, and chomped down on one of Surskit's legs, causing him to cry out in pain. "OWWWWWWWW!"

"Surskit, knock him off with Ice Beam, then shoot it at the ceiling!" Viola ordered.

Surskit did manage to knock Riolu off, though the Bug and Water Type did not dish out too much damage, as Riolu is a Fighting Type, and Ice Beam is, of course, and Ice Type move. However, Surskit then used Ice Beam at the ceiling, causing it to ricochet and ice up the floor.

"Riolu, come back," Calem said, raising Riolu's pokéball. "You're not well equipped to deal with this." He returned his pokémon, quickly letting him back out. "Now, Fennekin, to the battlefield!"

The fox pup jumped onto the field. "Wouldn't Fennekin just have the same problem as Riolu?" Viola asked, somewhat curious to whatever plan Calem had cooked up.

Calem smirked. "Fennekin, heat up the surrounding air!"

The ice in a three-meter radius of Fennekin immediately vaporized as a bubble of extremely hot air formed around the fox pup.

"Surskit, try Bubble!" Viola told her pokémon.

As soon as the Bubbles hit the hemisphere of air, they evaporated. "Fennekin, get rid of as much of the ice as you can manage!" Fennekin ran around the battlefield, evaporating ice as she went, and eventually entrapped Surskit in her bubble of hot air.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow owowowowowowowow!" Surskit wailed in pain. "Do you know how hot this is?"

"Yup," Fennekin said, then Howled. "I find it quite comfortable."

"Scratch!" Calem yelled.

Surskit fainted after about five Scratches, unable to dodge any due to the intense pain from the heat.

"There," Fennekin said satisfactorily.

Viola returned Surskit. "Vivillon, you're up!"

The butterfly flew out onto the battlefield. "Alright, miss Fire Type, you may have taken out Surskit, but-"

"Use Ember!" Calem interrupted.

"Woah!" Vivillon shouted as she dodged the ball of flame and quickly had to escape the second one. "I must say, you have impeccable ai-HOLY CRAP!" Vivillon had to dodge a _third_ ball of flame, and this time it nicked her wing.

"Vivillon, use Powder!" Viola ordered.

Vivillon used Powder in an attempt to prevent Fennekin from using Fire Type moves. Unfortunately for the both of them, it exploded when it encountered the ball of hot air, knocking both the fox pup and butterfly back and disrupting Fennekin's concentration enough that the ball of hot air was destabilized. After a gust attack, Fennekin was down for the count.

"I am TRIUMPHANT!" Vivillon shouted.

Calem promptly returned Fennekin, letting her back out to sleep for a bit, and sent out Riolu.

"Alright, Vivillon, use Gust!" Viola shouted.

"Counter that with Hidden Power!" Calem responded.

The stream of fire disrupted the aerial disturbance and rammed right into Vivillon, causing it to faint. Viola recalled the Flying Type with a sigh, walking over to Calem and handed him the Bug Badge. "Well Calem, you have earned the Bug Badge with some, if I may say, rather unorthodox strategies."

"Thank you, Viola," Calem responded, taking the badge.

Shauna suddenly jumped down from the stands and ran up to Calem. "You did great!"

The sudden appearance of his traveling group rather confused Calem. "When did you get here?"

"About five minutes ago," Tierno responded. "By the way, the professor is coming a bit early. He's arriving today."

"Well, I can't wait to meet him," Calem replied. "Let's go, then!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And that's the first gym battle done! If it seemed like it was a bit easy for Calem, don't worry. It's only the first gym, after all, they'll get harder from here on.


	5. To Lumiose City We Go!

_Chapter V: To Lumiose City We Go!_

As the five exited the gym, they were deep in conversation. "So, what's the professor like?" asked Serena.

"He's really smart," Trevor replied. "But he tends to ramble if you get him going on… really any topic pertaining to pokémon biology"

"So, just don't talk about science and we'll be fine, right?" Calem asked.

"Yup!" Shauna replied.

"I just hope he brought my meds…" Fennekin said to Riolu.

"Meds?" Riolu asked inquisitively.

"Oh, right," Fennekin began. "I haven't told you yet. I'm schizophrenic."

"Huh?" Riolu responded.

"Hallucinations, short temper, paranoia, etcetera." Fennekin answered.

Riolu blinked. "Oh. Does this explain the nightmare last night, or..."

"Maybe," Fennekin replied. "But it could have just been a regular nightmare."

While the two pokémon were having their little chat, they had tuned out the human's conversation. "-and that's why we call Calem a flower child," Serena finished. This caused the group to break out into fits of laughter.

"Just because I worked for a florist for five months," Calem mumbled while blushing a bit in embarrassment. "Besides, it was good pay…and Serena has no right to call me a child when I'm technically older than her!"

The sister scoffed. "By nine minutes!"

"Nine minutes is still time! It's five hundred forty seconds!"

"Or only zero point one five hours!"

The other three and the pokémon looked on in confusion.

"Are they seriously arguing over whether nine minutes is enough to say that one is older than the other?" Trevor asked.

Shauna and Tierno nodded. "To be honest, it sounds like a stupid argument," Tierno said.

"So is the photography versus dancing argument you two keep bringing up," Shauna said, exasperation lacing her voice.

"What are you talking about!? He takes too many photographs!"

"How many times do I have to explain this!?"

Shauna and the two pokémon sighed. "Oops," Shauna muttered, mostly to herself.

* * *

When the seven entered the pokémon center, four were still in two different arguments, two were chatting in a language incomprehensible to human ears, and one looked like she was ready to kill the other four humans if they didn't shut up.

"One point seven one times ten to the negative nineteenth times the predicted lifespan of the universe!" Serena exclaimed, trying to come up with the smallest possible number still meaning for nine minutes.

"Ten to the forty sixth plank times!" Calem retorted.

"Will you two shut up?!" Shauna exclaimed. "My patience is wearing incredibly thin right now!"

Nurse Joy, Fennekin, and Riolu snickered at the group's antics, as Tierno and Trevor's argument's volume reached a crescendo.

"And that goes for you two as well!" Shauna shot at Tierno and Trevor, who promptly shut up.

* * *

A few hours later, all the pokémon were healed, the arguments had stopped, lunch had been eaten, and the group was waiting for the professor. It turned out they didn't need to wait that long, since the professor showed up within the next five minutes.

Professor Sycamore was a tall and lanky man, with wild black hair and blue eyes. Despite being in Santalune on business, he was wearing the rather casual purple shirt and black jeans under an open lab coat.

Spotting the group, he walked over and sat down at the table with a smile. "Shauna, Tierno, Trevor, it's nice to see you three again."

The three nodded. "It's nice to see you too, professor," Trevor said.

Sycamore turned to the twins. "You two must be Calem and Serena, correct?"

The two smiled, and Serena stuck out her hand for a shake. "It's nice to meet you, Professor Sycamore."

Sycamore accepted the handshake, saying, "You five have been taking good care of your pokémon, I presume? May I see them?"

The five nodded, and called out their pokémon. Fennekin and Riolu jumped up onto the table with the rest of them. Sycamore looked at the ten pokémon carefully, with the five that knew him waving cheerfully. He looked at Corphish first. "Yo professor," the crayfish said excitedly. "Wassup?"

The professor chuckled, understanding the gist of what Corphish was trying to say. "It's nice to see you too, Corphish." He looked at Fletchling next. "You look very healthy. I can tell that Tierno has been taking good care of you."

The small bird would have blushed if she could. "Thank you, professor."

Flabébé was the next one to be inspected. "It's nice to see you again, Flabébé. You and your flower are looking as good as ever!"

"Thank you, sir," Flabébé replied quietly.

Sycamore moved on to Pikachu. "A pikachu? Not often seen in Santalune forest, but not too uncommon. You look healthy too."

"You're darn right I'm healthy!" Pikachu replied, causing the rest of the pokémon to be rather pleased that the professor was unable to understand them.

Froakie hopped up to the professor. "Hello Professor Sycamore! It's nice to see you again!"

Sycamore chuckled at the bubble frog's antics. "Hello to you as well, Froakie. Who's your trainer?" The frog pointed to Serena. "You've been taking very good care of Froakie, Serena," the professor told her.

The younger twin blushed. "Thank you, sir. Oh! I caught Pansage while in Santalune Forest too!"

The professor took a look at the elemental monkey and smiled. "You look to be in quite good health as well."

Pansage nodded. "I've gotten quite a lot of Vitamin D. It helps."

Sycamore took a look at Shauna's pokémon next. Chespin was inspected first of the two. "Hello Chespin. Your quills are still sharp, I can see."

"Yessir!" Chespin responded with a salute. "I've made sure to keep myself in perfect condition."

The next pokémon actually managed to get the professor to look shocked. "A shiny litleo," Sycamore said, a surprised tone in his voice. "You are incredibly lucky, Shauna."

"Thank you, professor," Shauna replied. "Toba here wound up challenging Chespin to a battle."

"And Chespin was as tactless as f-" Toba said before she was quickly cut off.

"And I'm just going to stop you right there," Chespin interrupted.

"Well, you were!"

As the conversation between Shauna's two pokémon dissolved into an argument, Sycamore moved on to Calem's pokémon. "Hello Fennekin. How have you been doing?"

"Where are my meds?" Fennekin asked in a deadpan.

Though unable to understand the fox pup, Sycamore seemed to understand what she wanted. He dug through his pocket and handed to bottle of pills to Calem. "She takes one pill with breakfast and one with dinner," the professor explained.

"Thank Arceus," Fennekin sighed. "I was starting to worry that I'd snap and hurt someone."

"Hopefully those nightmares will go away because of them," Riolu said.

Pikachu had overheard the conversation, but for his own safety, decided to not comment.

Sycamore moved on Riolu. "A riolu? Uncommon, but not necessarily rare. You look very healthy, as does Fennekin."

"Thank you, sir," Riolu responded as formally as possible.

"Though you do both seem a bit tired," Sycamore said.

Calem smiled. "I'm taking the gym route," he elaborated, and showed the professor his only badge so far. "I should probably get a badge case soon."

Sycamore chuckled again. "Speaking of which, I recently got a batch of the wrong starters."

"Really?" Serena asked. "Why?"

"Apparently, there was a mix-up with the official pokémon league breeding shipment program," the professor replied. "I got a shipment of Kanto starter eggs and Professor Oak got a shipment of Kalos starters."

"Somebody's getting fired," Calem said.

This got a laugh out of everyone at the table. "Yes," Sycamore said, still chuckling somewhat. "Someone probably _is_ going to get fired. But anyway, Professor Oak and I came to an agreement, and both the Kanto and Kalos leagues agreed to it."

"What's the agreement?" Shauna asked.

Sycamore grinned. "That instead of giving the starters out to trainers just starting out, we decided to give them out to other trainers instead, but still beginning trainers."

Fennekin smiled. "Yay! We might get another teammate!"

Everyone looked at Calem, expecting him to be the first one to jump at the chance. He was about to, too, but the professor spoke before Calem could say anything.

"But first, you have to battle all three," Sycamore suddenly mentioned.

Calem looked surprised. "Three versus two? That seems a bit unfair."

"They did just hatch a few weeks ago," Sycamore pointed out.

Calem considered it. "Okay then. I'm pretty sure the pokémon center has a training battlefield out back."

Sycamore nodded. "Let's go, then!"

* * *

On the battlefield there were Calem and Professor Sycamore, with Trevor acting as referee. "This is a three versus two battle with no switching out. Both trainers will send out their pokémon simultaneously."

"Charmander, go!" Professor Sycamore shouted.

"Fennekin, to the battlefield!" Calem yelled.

The fire lizard and fire fox faced each other on the battlefield. "Alright my Kantonian counterpart, be ready to feel the stinging darkness of temporary unconsciousness!" Fennekin taunted.

"When you put it that way," Charmander replied. "It just sounds morbid."

"Shall we begin?" Sycamore asked.

Calem nodded. "Yes, we shall. Fennekin, use Howl!"

Fennekin howled to raise her attack. "Charmander, use Scratch!" Sycamore commanded, hoping to get in the first hit.

Charmander charged at his opponent, claws at the ready. "This is what you get for taunting me earlier!"

"Hypnosis," was all that Calem said, and Fennekin's eyes glowed blue as she sent out the unavoidable psychic message to sleep.

Charmander yawned. "Darn…it…" Then he collapsed, asleep.

"Alright Fennekin, use Howl and Scratch repeatedly!" Calem ordered.

"And this," Fennekin said as she let out an almost unearthly Howl. "Is what you get for falling for that taunt!"

After a couple Scratches, a now noticeably damaged Charmander was jolted awake. "Charmander, Ember attack!" Sycamore shouted.

Charmander swung his tail around to make some Embers fly off, a couple of which got into Fennekin's eyes. "Argh!" the fox pup yelled, furiously blinking and swiping at her eyes. "Did you have to get it in my eyes? I mean, I like hot things, but it's in my eyes!"

Charmander smirked. "Hah."

"Fennekin!" Calem shouted. "You can still use your sense of hearing, right?"

"Oh, why didn't I think of that?" The temporarily blind Fennekin questioned.

"Probably because of the pain in your ey-oh crap," Charmander said, realizing that he just gave away his position. With a couple of well-placed Scratch attacks, he was down.

Sycamore sighed and recalled Charmander. "Squirtle, you're up!"

Calem sighed at the disadvantageous situation. _It's too bad I can't switch out,_ he thought. _With Fennekin blinded, she won't be able to target Squirtle for a scratch, or hypnosis for that matter._

"Squirtle, use Bubble!" Sycamore ordered.

The Bubbles started moving towards Fennekin. "On my command, dodge forward and to your left…now!" The fox pup, whose eyes were still closed, did as she was commanded, and effectively dodged the Bubble stream. However, Squirtle redirected the Bubble, and it followed Fennekin.

"Squirtle, let her get closer, cut off the bubbles!" Sycamore said.

Calem was confused, but shrugged. "Use Howl and keep moving forward."

The fox pup continued doing as she was commanded, moving forward while constantly Howling. Once she was at Scratching distance, Calem shouted, "Scratch, now!"

"Squirtle," Sycamore commanded. "Use point-blank Bubble!"

Calem inwardly cursed. _If Fennekin takes any more Bubbles, she's down,_ he thought. "Fennekin, keep using Scratch, but open your eyes!"

Fennekin, realizing that this could put them at an advantage, did so. Both attacks hit, though the Bubble managed to clear out Fennekin's eyes. Both took massive damage, though Fennekin seemed to take more.

Sycamore took advantage of this situation. "Bubble now! Don't let her recover."

Fennekin, in an act of desperation, fired off a hasty, though adrenaline boosted, Hypnosis. The message to sleep even forced the three nearest humans to stumble back a bit, and the others even had to blink a bit of sudden tiredness out of their eyes.

The Bubbles still hit, and knocked Fennekin out, but she caused Squirtle to pass immediately into deep sleep. Once everyone had recovered, Calem quickly retrieved his starter. Once everyone was back in place, and Riolu on the field, Shauna asked what everyone was thinking. "What was _that_?!"

"I think," Sycamore began. "That Fennekin has a bit more psychic power than we realized."

Calem raised an eyebrow. "And is that a problem?"

"Not exactly," Sycamore explained. "As long as she takes her meds, she should be fine. Seeing as schizophrenia is a mental condition, it would impact her psychic abilities. You see, all Fennekin have psychic abilities to some extent, but to have that much power with a mental disorder…"

"Alright, no need for a lecture," Serena said. "Can you two finish the battle and figure out science stuff later?"

The two battlers nodded. "Riolu, use Quick Attack," Calem ordered.

Riolu quickly knocked out the tiny turtle, who was still asleep and had taken quite a bit of damage from Scratch. Riolu dusted off his paws. "Is that all?"

Sycamore recalled Squirtle and sent out Bulbasaur. Riolu smirked.

"Riolu, use Hidden Power!" Calem yelled.

Riolu summoned the stream of flame from between his paws before launching it at the plant dinosaur.

"Owow! OW THAT BURNS!" Bulbasaur shouted, with Riolu laughing like the little pyromaniac that he was.

When Riolu finally let up, Bulbasaur was burnt, but not down. "Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" Sycamore shouted.

The plant dinosaur hit Riolu multiple times with his vines, and didn't seem like letting up. "Riolu, use Endure!"

Riolu toughed out the vines until Bulbasaur got tired, which turned out to take around five minutes. Once the entire thing was over, both pokémon were injured, though one was somewhat surprised. "_SERIOUSLY_?!" Bulbasaur shouted in exasperation.

Riolu smirked. "Endure into Counter. It's my solve-all-problems-combo."

Needless to say, Bulbasaur went _flying_. Then Riolu collapsed. "Err… I guess Calem wins, then," Trevor said somewhat quietly, "as Bulbasaur fainted first."

Sycamore smiled as he recalled Bulbasaur. "I should have expected something like this to happen," Then his face split into a grin. "Now, once everyone is healed, you can pick one of the starters to go with you on your journey."

"That's great!" Calem exclaimed.

Four minutes and thirty seconds later, the group of six were sitting in the pokémon center. "So, Professor," Tierno began "Do you have any idea on what happened when Fennekin fainted?"

"Well…" Began the professor.

"Nope," Calem interjected. "No talking about Fennekin while Fennekin isn't here."

Everyone looked slightly surprised at the sudden interruption, though it was understandable. "Okay, then," said Shauna.

* * *

In the region of Kanto, a sixteen-year-old aura user was currently asleep with a pikachu in the same state on top of him as several other pokémon surrounded him. Ash had decided to sleep at the ranch due to Counterpart's nagging that he be more in-tune with nature. All was peaceful. Until a ringtone went off, that is, signaling that Ash had a phone call, and startling nearly all the pokémon awake. Surprisingly, Pikachu and Charizard, despite being the closest to the epicenter of the noise, were not awakened by the ringing of the phone. Ash, however, was. And he was not happy about it either, nor were most of his pokémon.

Ash answered, prepared to launch dozens of profanities at whoever was calling at this absurd hour, but was not expecting the answer. "Hello. This is an automated message from Kanto Airlines. We would like to inform you that your flight to Lumiose City from Viridian City scheduled for Tuesday, August 20 has been pushed forward to Thursday, August 15 due to predicted weather conditions. Thank you for choosing Kanto Airlines."

Ash pretty much dropped the phone and lied back down in the grass with a mental groan as his pokémon settled back down. _Well this screws around with my schedule,_ he thought. _It's what, Wednesday? Or is it Thursday, now?_

_Friday, actually,_ Counterpart answered. _Why are we awake again?_

Ash chose to ignore that. _And I have to get more training done, and I need to tell my mom, and yada yada yada._

_Y'know what? Just go back to bed,_ Counterpart suggested.

* * *

Back in Kalos, the five pokémon had been healed from the battle, and were back by Calem's side, in the case of Fennekin and Riolu, or in their balls, in the case of the three starters. "Alright," Sycamore said. "First things first. Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur?" He opened the pokéballs.

"Hmm…" Calem pondered. "I suppose it also depends on how they and Fennekin and Riolu feel." He turned to his two pokémon. "What do you two think?"

Fennekin and Riolu decided to talk to the starters to get to know which one would want to come. "So," Fennekin started. "Which ones of you want to come?"

Charmander immediately backed off. "From what happened, I don't really think I like battling. I'm out."

Squirtle shrugged. "Bulbasaur can go," she said. "I don't really feel like journeying anyway."

Bulbasaur shrugged, or as much as a quadruped could. "Meh," the plant dinosaur said before walking up and joining the fox pup and small jackal.

Fennekin and Riolu blinked, and looked at each other. "Well," Riolu said, "that was easy."

Calem blinked, before just accepting it. "Welcome to the team, Bulbasaur," he said with a smile.

This dinosaur just shrugged again, walking over to Fennekin and Riolu as Sycamore handed the pokéball to Calem.

"Now," Sycamore started. "Onto Fennekin's psychic abilities."

The group nodded. "What exactly _was_ that?" Shauna asked.

"If I had to wager a guess," Sycamore explained. "I would say it was due to the adrenaline, but it was extremely powerful, even accounting for adrenaline."

Fennekin and the other pokémon, who were of course listening as this directly pertained to one of them, turned to each other. "Well, it makes sense," Fennekin said. "After all, Mom was a psychic prodigy. Actually, come to think of it, so was her mom. And Dad."

Riolu blinked. "Uhh…what?"

Fennekin blushed a little bit. "You're not the only one here with a weird family tree. My family just happens to have a penchant for psychic abilities."

"Okay then," Bulbasaur stated. "Just…don't attack me please. I'm a Grass and Poison Type so…yeah…"

"So Fennekin is just really powerful then? Calem asked.

"That's one way to put it," Professor Sycamore responded. There was silence for a moment while everyone pondered this, before the professor cleared his throat, standing up. "Well, I must be getting on with my research here. Calem, Serena, it was a pleasure to meet the both of you. I suspect I'll be seeing you all in Lumiose soon?"

The group nodded. "Probably by Monday. Route Four is longer than Two and Three, after all," Trevor said.

Sycamore put the other two starters back in their pokéballs, and the pokéballs back in the briefcase he carried them in. "I'll be seeing you all Monday, then. Have a nice rest of your day." Then he walked out.

The group looked at each other. "So," Serena said. "Dinner, then?"

"I would think so," Tierno confirmed. "Are we leaving this evening or tomorrow morning?"

"I, for one, don't want to break something tripping over an object I can't see," Calem said. "So I vote tomorrow morning." Everyone laughed, before leaving to get dinner. Calem was about to, before he remembered something. "So, Bulbasaur, do you want a nickname?" he asked.

The plant dinosaur thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, I'm fine with just being called Bulbasaur."

Calem couldn't understand the pokémon exactly, but got the message from the head shake. "All right, I'll just to scan you with the pokédex real quick."

**Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon. After it is hatched, the seed on its back gives it nourishment. The seed grows with the pokémon. This bulbasaur is male. Active ability: Overgrow. Hidden ability: Chlorophyll (locked). Known moves: Tackle, Growl, and Vine Whip. Egg moves: Giga Drain (locked)**

Calem shut the 'dex. "All right, last question: do you want to stay out of your pokéball?"

Bulbasaur nodded extremely quickly. "You don't see much of the world when you're in that thing!" He shouted.

Of course, all Calem heard was a somewhat angry, "_Bulba bulb saur bulbasaur!_" but he got the picture, and nodded, before adding, "Well, I'll have to recall you sometimes in order for quick switches off of the battlefield, but for just traveling, it should be find. Now, let's get something to eat before it's gone!" And the human and three pokémon made their way into the dining area.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the world, a pokémon trainer was waking up. Ash yawned a bit, before looking around, then diving into his head. _Counterpart, you up yet?_

A large yawn echoed around in Ash's head. _Yeah I'm…_ he yawned again. _I'm up. Why are you up so early?_

_Well, there's the change in plans._

_What change in…oh…right._

_Yep, everything's been pushed forward a week. Which means that there's no more slacking off on training, ever. That and I have to tell Brock, Mom, and the Professor._

Ash could almost see Counterpart's smirk. _You know what that means, right?_

_Not whatever you're thinking of._

_Why, my dear Ashton, it means that you get to search out your crush sooner!_

_Shut. Up._

_Serena and Ash, sittin' in a tree…_

_Counterpart, I'm warning you, if you don't shut up._

_There's nothing you could do to me anyway. K-I-S…_

_Shut._

_-S…_

_The._

_-I-N…_

Ash thought something most would consider unprintable.

_Wait you can swear?_

_UP!_

Ash felt like Counterpart would be smirking if he had a physical form. _Think of it as revenge for waking me up at four thirty._

_Frick you._

Exiting his mind and ignoring Counterpart's shouts of _VICTORY!_, Ash instead focused on the pokémon around him, who had started to stir as a response to Ash's awakening. He had figured out how to effectively communicate with is pokémon the day previous, but he still felt somewhat surprised when Pikachu spoke.

"I thought I was the one who was supposed to wake you up," the electric mouse muttered groggily.

"You'll probably get that luxury the second day we're in Kalos," Ash replied.

"I still want to shock you."

"Anyway," Ash said, hoping to divert Pikachu's attention somewhere other than whether to shock him or not. "Everything's been pushed forward a week because the airlines here suck."

Pikachu shocked him. Charizard, who had also just woken up, shot fire at him.

Charizard suddenly stopped however, when he considered the implications. "Does this mean accelerated training?" He asked hopefully.

Ash nodded. "And Officer Jenny is bringing Squirtle back today. Introducing him to all the new pokémon is going to be fun. Oh, and training starts now."

"But it's like four in the morning!" Pikachu complained.

Ash checked the clock on his phone. "Four thirty-five, actually. We've already wasted five minutes, now let's wake up the others. Charizard?"

Needless to say, the other pokémon were not thrilled that Charizard had been the one to wake them all up, but they lined up in their groups nonetheless. Ash started marching back and forth in front of them. "All right," Ash said, "due to the airlines being terrible, we only have a week to get all our training in." There was a uniform groan from all of the gathered pokémon. "Yeah, yeah, but this means we have to get to training at this exact instant! I can't believe I haven't asked this before, but how many of you actually want to evolve?" Half of the unevolved pokémon raised a hand…or claw…or vine… Noting this, Ash said, "I want all of you to choose a partner in your group to spar with, and I want all of you to work twice as hard as you have been. We have no room for slacking off here pokémon!"

And so, training began. It took five hours and a meal before something interesting finally happened: Squirtle showing up. Of course, Squirtle's first thoughts on seeing the complete mayhem that was the lab ranch was: _What the hell?_

Pikachu was the first to notice the turtle pokémon. "Hi Squirtle!" he shouted, while dodging an Earthquake from a tauros. "How have you been?" Pikachu used Iron Tail on the tauros closest to him, knocking him out and using him as a springboard to launch into a Volt Tackle on another.

"What's this?" Squirtle asked.

"Training," Pikachu answered, quickly throwing up an electric countershield and hurling Electro Balls in all directions. Once the shield fell, Pikachu darted at the nearest tauros with a Quick Attack. "Wanna join in?"

"You're taking on all thirty tauros at once." Squirtle deadpanned. Then he smiled. "Of course I want to join in!" He then promptly popped into his shell, and launched himself at the nearest tauros with Rapid Spin, ricocheting into another…then another, and another. It wasn't enough to knock them out, but enough to disorient them enough to miss the yellow rodent running in between them and shooting them with electricity long enough to NOT hit him with an Earthquake. Squirtle then used Hydro Pump to both simultaneously knock out one tauros and propel himself into another using Skull Bash. After all of this, there was one tauros left standing, and he was promptly knocked out by a combined Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt.

Pikachu dusted off his paws, then turned to Squirtle. "So, how have you been?"

Squirtle shrugged. "I've been good. Firefighting was fun, and helpful to people, but the rest of the squad can handle it."

Pikachu was about to respond, before he suddenly ducked. Squirtle turned around, suddenly realizing the reason behind it, and was hit in the face with a pillar of fire, courtesy of Charizard. "Hello Squirtle!"

Squirtle then launched a Hydro Pump at the flying lizard, which said lizard easily dodged by simply flying upward. And so Squirtle was introduced to all of Ash's pokémon, and nothing else too interesting happened that day besides more training.

* * *

Despite taking her meds at dinner, Fennekin was still locked in a nightmare. Said nightmare had dumped her in the middle of what appeared to have once been a nice town. The part that made it a nightmare? It was on fire. _All_ of it. Normally, this would be of no concern to a Fire Type like her, was it not for the giant, unnatural structure in the center of the town, towering over the area. And that it was a town-wide fire. Then, she noticed the bodies. The charred corpses of townsfolk. Fennekin did the only sensible thing in that situation: she ran.

She ran as fast as she could away from the center of town. She tried to ignore the corpses as she ran, and she tried to ignore the pained moans of those still clinging to life. After what seemed to her as an eternity, the endless cackling of the flames and moaning of the dying gave way to silence.

Under normal circumstances, one would think this better, but Fennekin still felt uneasy. She was now in the middle of the woods surrounding the town, and she would have expected some bird pokémon to be flying between trees, or perhaps there to be some rustling in the underbrush. But there was nothing.

Suddenly, a voice from within the forest broke the silence. "You…you won't be able to finish this!" it shouted. The voice sounded familiar to Fennekin, but she could not for the life of her place it in her dream.

"Au contraire, monsieur Proulx," came a second voice, speaking in native Kalosian.

A gun clicked.

"Fennekin!"

"I've already succeeded."

"Fennekin, wake up!"

The gun fired.

Fennekin woke with a start, breathing heavily. After a moment, she realized who had woken her up, and said, "Thanks."

Riolu shrugged. "No problem. Another nightmare?"

Fennekin nodded. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's five thirty-seven," said a voice from behind the two.

Fennekin and Riolu whirled around to see Bulbasaur messing around with Calem's phone. "Why are you…" Riolu started to ask, but he was cut off.

"Shhh…" Bulbasaur warned, gesturing with his vines to the sleeping Calem, who rolled over. "I woke up early."

Riolu frowned. "That doesn't explain why you're on our trainer's phone," he whispered.

Bulbasaur shrugged as much as a quadruped could. "I was bored."

"So you stole his phone?" Riolu said inquisitively.

"I did not _steal_ it," Bulbasaur retorted. "I simply _borrowed_ it without asking first. I'm gonna give it back."

Riolu narrowed his eyes. "That still does not excuse…"

"Anyway," Bulbasaur said, cutting Riolu off and completely redirecting the conversation, "you have night terrors?" he asked Fennekin.

Fennekin nodded, somewhat solemnly. "Last night, I thought that it was my schizophrenia, but I took my meds at dinner and boom, another one."

"Can you remember any of either nightmare?" Riolu asked. "There might be a connection."

Fennekin shook her head. "Even if there was, I can't remember either of them besides the fact that they came with sheer, unrelenting terror."

"Wait. Back up. You have schizophrenia?" Bulbasaur asked.

Fennekin's expression changed to a glare that she leveled at the plant dinosaur. "Do _not_ make me shoot fire at you as soon as we're outside."

Bulbasaur backed up. "Sorry, no offense meant. I was just curious as to how severe it is."

"I would prefer," Fennekin said through gritted teeth, "not to talk about it."

"Somewhat of an anger management problem, then," Bulbasaur said to himself. "Possibly hallucinations and paranoia and/or panic attacks…"

The temperature in the room started to rise.

"Bulbasaur," Riolu said, calmly, but with a hint of disapproval in his voice, "I would recommend you stop talking. Now."

"Oh," Bulbasaur said, somewhat sheepishly. "Uh…sorry. I ramble to myself sometimes."

Just then, Calem woke up due to the increase in temperature. "Did someone turn up the thermostat?" he asked to no one in particular. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense, it's August…is that my phone?"

Bulbasaur panickedly shot a look at Riolu of _Oh crap dude help me out here_. To which Riolu simply responded with a shrug.

Bulbasaur guiltily handed (or vined, depending on whether or not one wants to be appendage-specific) the phone back to Calem.

"You were playing Candy Crush?" Calem asked the plant dinosaur in a bit of disbelief.

Bulbasaur laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head with a vine. "Uh… yes?"

Calem, while not able to understand exactly what Bulbasaur was saying, got the general idea and sighed and pinched his nose. "Just… don't do it again, okay? And Fennekin, you okay?"

Said fox pup had managed to calm herself down, and simply nodded before spinning in a circle and lying down, going back to sleep.

Calem yawned. "I think I'm with Fennekin on this, it's too early to do anything." He laid back down and rolled over. "And whatever you said to upset Fennekin, don't do it again."

Riolu narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, no. You woke up, you'll be getting up."

Bulbasaur, who at this point had laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, cracked an eye open. "Riolu, Fennekin's already asleep and Calem can't understand you. I don't think that you'll be able to do much."

Riolu, without answering, simply walked over to the bed and, rather violently, pulled Calem off of it and onto the floor. Calem, of course, landed on his left arm.

Wincing, Calem picked himself up off the floor and gave Riolu the stink eye. "Was that really necessary?"

Riolu responded simply by shrugging and walking over to wake the fox pup. Fennekin immediately opened both her eyes and tried to use hypnosis. In response, Riolu started pacing to keep himself awake while mentally blocking it.

After around thirty seconds of this, Bulbasaur asked, "So… are you two just going to keep doing this, or what?"

Riolu narrowed his eyes. "As long as she is insistent on sleeping in, then this will continue."

Fennekin sighed. "It's five forty-five! How is that sleeping in!?"

"We require an early start," Riolu explained. "Therefore, I consider sleeping beyond first waking up sleeping in."

Fennekin gave up trying to get Riolu to fall back asleep, since it obviously wasn't working, and sighed before standing up and walking towards the door. "Fine! Fine. I'm awake."

Fifteen minutes later, the group was sitting at one of the booths in the pokémon center's dining area. Riolu was happily eating breakfast in the spot next to Calem, but all the others were just too tired to really do anything. Calem was drinking coffee, Fennekin was on top of the table drinking coffee from a bowl, and Bulbasaur was beside Calem drinking coffee from a tiny mug held with his vines.

Hearing footsteps, Calem looked up. It was Shauna, who also appeared to have just woken up, with Chespin perched on her shoulder and Toba walking along beside her, all three looking half-asleep. "Good morning, Shauna." Calem said completely ironically. "You're up early."

Shauna yawned as she slid into the booth across from Calem, Toba hopping up onto the table and Chespin just sort of falling off Shauna's shoulder and going back to sleep. "I could say the same to you," she retorted. "You have any coffee left?"

Calem passed the coffee pot over to Shauna. "So, any reason in particular that has you up this early?"

Shauna yawned again. "I set my alarm, thinking that we would need an early start. Didn't realize no one else would be awake, though." She took a sip of her coffee and cringed slightly. "Blegh. You do realize that this is cold now, right?"

Calem shrugged. "There isn't really anything I can do about that. I feel like Fennekin and Toba are at an inherent advantage, though."

The two looked over at the Fire Types, the former of which had decided to just let the later share the bowl of still obviously hot coffee with her.

"Yep," Shauna agreed. "They definitely have an advantage there. Anyway, why are _you_ up so early?"

Calem gestured to Riolu. "Because this blue thing seems to think that five thirty is a perfectly acceptable time to wake up."

Riolu frowned. "But it is…"

Bulbasaur interrupted him. "Riolu, you are the only being on the planet that thinks that. Five thirty is _not_ a good time to wake up."

"It's fine, Bulbasaur" Riolu retorted. "It's completely fine to wake up this early."

Bulbasaur sighed. "Dude, five of us are drinking coffee and one of us is still asleep. Clearly, this is not an optimal time to wake up."

Riolu shook his head. "Obviously, you are not accustomed to training."

Fennekin sighed and looked down at the two bickering pokémon. "Will you two stop? This argument is annoying and quite frankly, I want breakfast at some point before we leave."

Riolu and Bulbasaur looked at each other before frowning. "This conversation isn't over," Bulbasaur stated.

"Of course." Riolu stated.

Fennekin sighed and looked at Toba.

"Boys, amiright?" Toba asked, both amused and exasperated.

* * *

One hour, thirty minutes, and a meal later, the group of now five humans and three pokémon, as the rest were in pokéballs, exited the pokemon center.

"So, which direction to Route Four, again?" Shauna asked.

"Route Four connects to the northern part of Santalune City," Trevor stated, looking at the map. "We'll be passing through the Route Four gardens for about half a day, and then from there it's a three day walk to Lumiose. We'll be there by Monday."

"So, what are we planning on doing once we get to Lumiose?" Calem asked.

"Well, I want to stay there at least until Thursday," Serena inputted. "There's a performance going on then, and I want to watch it."

"Ooh! Can I go with you?" Shauna practically squealed. "I really, _really_ want to see one in person!"

Serena smiled, though somewhat mentally unbalanced by Shauna's enthusiasm. "Uh… I don't see why not… Calem, do you have enough money for-"

"Ahem. WHAT?" Calem interrupted. "Why would _I_ have to pay for that?"

"Well… you're older," Serena rationalized. "So… you pay."

"You made more money than me!"

"I sold baguettes at a bakery! You sold flowers! Of course I made more money than you!"

"So why don't you pay for it?!"

"Will you two shut up?" Shauna asked, exasperated. "I'll freaking pay for tickets if you stop arguing."

"You don't have to do that," Serena said. "I'll-"

"I'll pay for the tickets, it's fine," Calem suddenly cut his sister off, grumbling. "Just please don't ask for anything else."

"Now what I'm looking forward to," Bulbasaur mentioned despite knowing that the five humans could not understand him, "are the flowers."

"Wait, why?" Fennekin asked.

"I literally have a flower growing out of my back," Bulbasaur deadpanned. "Why do you think?"

Fennekin opened her mouth, closed it, and after a bit, and responded, "Touché."

"Besides," Bulbasaur said, "botany is just plain interesting. Did you know that photosynthesis is the opposite of a combustion reaction, taking in water and carbon dioxide and producing glucose and oxygen?"

Fennekin opened her mouth, either to make a retort or to spit a glob of fire at her teammate, but Riolu held up a paw. "Hold on, I've got this," he said. He cleared his throat before shouting, "NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!"

Bulbasaur absentmindedly picked a rose from the flowers the group were passing. "The reason I know so much about botany is because us bulbasaur are instinctively born with the knowledge. We kinda need it, since the whole being half plant thing happens." He tossed the rose in Riolu's direction, thorns first. "That's more than you can say."

Riolu swatted the flower away, taking care to not touch any of the thorns. "Well, us riolu are born with instinctive knowledge of martial arts. That's more than _you_ can say."

"Ahem," Fennekin cleared her throat. "Boys, boys. I can shoot fire."

"I can too…" Riolu retorted.

"Well, I can make people fall asleep," Fennekin shot back.

"I'll be able to do that soon too," Bulbasaur responded.

Fennekin was silent for a moment. "I'll be able to make things levitate eventually."

Riolu and Bulbasaur pondered that for a bit before responding, in unison, "Touché."

"Besides, I think tha…" Fennekin trailed off as the octad stalled, looking at the massive hedge wall that had appeared in front of the group.

Trevor walked in front of them and turned around at the apparent entrance to the hedge. "These, my friends, are the Gardens of Route Four."

Calem blinked. "The Gardens of Route Four… are in a hedge maze?"

"Not quite," Trevor explained. "It's more of a hedge wall surrounding the gardens."

"Chespin's gonna want to be out for this…" Shauna said, looking up at the rather tall hedge.

Serena nodded. "Pansage as well, I would think."

"Oh!" Trevor exclaimed suddenly. "Flabébé should probably be out too."

A few seconds and three flashes of light later, the three mentioned pokémon were out of their pokéballs and were also staring at the hedge.

"Wait," Calem said, "haven't you three been here before?"

"Nah, dude," Tierno responded. "We took the road around the Gardens."

"Well, what are we waiting for? I have pokémon to photograph!" Trevor exclaimed impatiently before rushing into the garden, camera at the ready. All the grass types ran in next, followed by Shauna shrugging at their enthusiasm and running in after them, Tierno not far behind. Calem and Serena looked at each other, chuckled, and ran in after them with the other three pokémon.

Upon entering the Gardens, the group stopped in their tracks to marvel at the beauty of them. Trevor was, of course, already snapping pictures of just about everything in existence, and for good garden was filled with just about every flower imaginable, from four o'clocks to roses, from daffodils to daisies. There were also trees, a lot of them. Pretty much any tree that could survive in a temperate environment were in the Gardens.

Of course, having that much flora in a single place would attract a lot of fauna, hence the large numbers of pokémon in the area. There were caterpie, burmy, and wormadam in the trees, butterfree flying in the sky, even the odd flabébé and floette were around.

Riolu whistled. "Now _this_ is a garden."

"No kidding," Fennekin responded. "Wait, where's Bulbasaur?"

"I'm right here!" called the plant dinosaur from within one of the groups of flowers. "I AM ONE WITH THE PLANTS!"

"No you're not," Flabébé retorted, entering the flower patch. "I am."

"I have a flower growing out of my back, though."

"But I ride a floating flower."

"Can't you both be one with plants, though?" Riolu asked.

"NO!" They both shouted at the same time.

"There can be only one master of plant life!" Bulbasaur exclaimed.

"And that's me!" Flabébé shouted.

"I'm the grass type here!" Bulbasaur retorted.

"Neither of you are absolute masters of plant life, so shut up and enjoy the large numbers of plants," Fennekin said, though muttering under her breath afterwards, "I just want to get out of here before these idiots make me burn the place down."

* * *

Four hours of rather slow walking through the Gardens later, the group arrived at an area where there was a large circular area with a fountain in the middle that the path split around. There were several benches around the outside of the path, where the group decided to stop and eat lunch.

It was while the group was eating that Fletching started chirping. It wasn't anything loud, but it was upbeat enough to get Corphish to react in the way he does to any music. That being - he started dancing.

Froakie sighed. "Do you have to do this? Like, seriously, why?"

Flabébé shrugged. "Corphish has always liked to dance, and Fletchling likes chirping to a tune, apparently."

Unbeknownst to the group, two sunglass-wearing ralts were watching the dancing crustacean with interest. "Yo sis," asked one, who appeared to be male, "think we can take 'im?"

The female one scoffed. "Of course, brother. Why would we not be able too?"

"Well, why don't we go out there and show 'em the power of the Dancing Twins of the Gardens of Route Four?"

"Genius idea, brother mine."

Corphish was happily dancing along to Fletchling's tweeting when a pair of ralts, one backflipping out of the flowers while wearing sunglasses, and the other simply gracefully striding out of said flowers, before facing the crustacean.

"Good mornin', mister dancin' Corphish," said the male.

"We, the infamous Dancing Twins of the Gardens of Route Four, challenge you-"

"To a dance battle!" the male one exclaimed, cutting off his sister.

"Brother, I was going to say that," the female whispered.

"Sis, I just wanna get to the dancing quicker," the male whispered back.

This was a surprise to Corphish for sure, but a welcome one. "A dance off, you say?" asked Corphish. "Well, I accept. You won't find a better dancer in the whole of Kalos than me! Fletchling, hit it!"

"Uh, Tierno?" Trevor asked after snapping a picture of the two ralts. "What's going on?"

"Shh!" Tierno responded quickly. "It's getting interesting. Those two are dancers for sure."

And then the music began. Granted, it wasn't much, considering that Fletchling was soloing it. It was a simple 4/4 tune, though at a rather fast tempo. Corphish began dancing, which may seem impressive for a crab, but he does have six legs.

The ralts, of course, were able to keep up, considering the rather simple time signature. They hadn't earned their title for nothing.

Corphish frowned slightly at is opponents' proficiency in dancing. "Alright, let's up the difficulty a bit. Do you know how to waltz? Flabébé, get over here."

Flabébé raised an eyebrow. "Dance, with you? You're way too immature."

"You were the one who was just having an argument four hours ago with Bulbasaur over who is the master of plants," Riolu pointed out.

"That's unimportant," Flabébé retorted.

"Besides," Fletchling said, "I wouldn't be able to do a waltz anyway. It requires a separate baseline. You cool with some other thing in 3/4?"

Corphish sighed. "Fine."

Turns out, the ralts could keep up with that too.

"Make it 3/2!" Corphish called out, eyes narrowing.

Both the ralts and Corphish struggled a bit with the suddenly slower tempo, but the pushed on.

"6/8!" Corphish ordered.

When the ralts kept up with that too, the music shifted to 9/8, and the ralts finally tripped up when the music shifted to 7/8. When that happened, Corphish was declared the winner of the dance off, and the ralts looked down in shame.

"Don't be too sad," Corphish said. "I almost lost."

"This is… this is the first time we have ever lost a dance off…" the female ralts said.

"Yo, can we go with you?" asked the male. "To learn from the master."

"Uh, I'd have to ask Tierno first, but… wait I can't talk to him," Corphish realized. "Hold on."

The crustacean scuttled over to Tierno's bag and rolled two of the pokéballs over to the two ralts, which they happily accepted.

Calem blinked. "Did he just…"

"Yes," Tierno responded. "Yes he did. I now have two ralts."

"But… what? There wasn't even a battle!" Calem exclaimed.

"Yes there was," Tierno retorted. "A dance battle."

Calem seemed to have trouble computing that information. "But… what… why…"

"Welp," Serena said. "You managed to break my brother. Congrats."

They were all shaken out of their stupor by a sudden distressed cry. Immediately, the group took of running in the direction of the cry, which happened to be near the exit of the Gardens.

Calem and Serena arrived first, and realized that the cry was from something being attacked by a group of rattata.

"Fennekin, use Ember on one of the rattata!" Calem commanded. "Riolu, go in for a Bite!"

"Froakie, help out with a Quick Attack!" Serena called.

Within a matter of seconds, the rattata had been dispersed, and the group could clearly see what they were attacking.

"It's a combee!" Serena exclaimed, rushing forward. Upon seeing the pokémon up close, her eyes widened. "Oh my Arceus, she's hurt!"

She knelt down to analyze the damage. The combee seemed to have taken a hit to the wing, and was unable to fly. Serena looked up at her brother who was also running towards the scene. "We need to get her to a pokémon center."

Calem nodded, and, scooping the combee up in her arms, Serena and him ran back towards Santalune, passing the rest of the group, including a panting Tierno, in their sprint.

Turning around, said person just sighed and began jogging in the other direction. "I might actually lose weight on the way to Lumiose…" he muttered to himself.

* * *

"Nurse Joy!" the twins shouted in unison upon sprinting into the pokémon center.

"You shouldn't be runni-" the nurse was about to respond before being cut off.

"This combee's wing is injured!" Serena practically shouted, presenting the injured pokémon to Nurse Joy.

Joy's look hardened. "I'll get right to work. Wigglytuff! I need a stretcher for a small to mid sized bug type pronto!"

The combee was quickly put onto the stretcher and wheeled into the emergency operating room, the nurse and pink pokémon with it.

An hour later, the thoroughly exhausted trio of part-time researchers entered the building. Locating their friends, they sat down next to them. "Why'd you guys run so fast?" Tierno asked. "I think I lost a kilogram on that run alone…"

"The cry was from an injured combee," Serena elaborated. "She was attacked by some rattata, and her wing was injured, so we brought her here."

"You two sprinted the entire way here?" Shauna asked.

"There was a pokémon in danger," Calem said. "Of course we sprinted."

There was relative silence for a long while before Trevor spoke. "So, is the combee okay?"

Serena nodded. "She should be, Nurse Joy is taking care of her."

There was silence again, this time remaining unbroken until Nurse Joy exited the operating room half an hour later.

"Your combee should be fine, Miss," the nurse stated. "I would recommend for her to not overextend herself for a few days, but she'll be fine."

"She's not mine, Nurse Joy," Serena explained. "She's wild. I just sorta acted on impulse."

Joy smiled. "You did the right thing. All pokémon deserve to be helped, wild or trained. I would still recommend you capture her though, at least until she's completely healed."

Serena nodded. "May I see her?"

Nurse Joy smiled again. "You may. Come with me."

The nurse led the group down into the operating rooms, opening the first door. "She's in here."

The combee was awake and alert, and immediately looked at the teen entering the room, recognizing her as the one who saved her. "Hi Combee," Serena said.

Combee continued looking at Serena, but said nothing.

"So, Nurse Joy asked me to capture you for a few days, until you're healed. Are you okay with that?" Serene presented a pokéball to Combee.

Combee seemed to consider this for a second, before tapping the pokéball and allowing herself to be captured.

"Well," Tierno deadpanned, "that was easy. So we're leaving tomorrow then?"

* * *

The next few days passed without incident, as Combee slowly healed and Fennekin, thankfully, had no more nightmares as the group traversed Route Four. However, on Monday night, the fox pup was woken up by a sound from outside the tent. Remembering what happened last time that happened, though, she was more careful about poking her head out of the tent and looking around.

To her surprise, it was a floette outside of the door of the tent.

"Hello!" it said enthusiastically.

"Uh… who are you?" Fennekin asked.

"I'm a messenger!" the floette exclaimed. "The Guardian sensed a powerful psychic nearby, and it's you!"

Fennekin backed up. "Uh… I'm afraid you must be mistaken. I'm not powerful at all."

The floette giggled. "Just follow me!" And then she drifted off into the woods.

Fennekin hesitated for a moment before running after her. "Wait up! Who's the Guardian?!"

Riolu, ever the light sleeper, woke up at this and, noticing that Fennekin was not in the tent, had a slight moment of panic. Realizing that that would not accomplish anything, he looked outside and, seeing Fennekin walking off into the woods, followed her.

Fennekin, meanwhile, followed the floette to a clearing, where she was taken aback by the sheer number of fairy types in the area.

The fox pup took a step backwards. "Whoa," she whispered.

The clearing was thick with a strange light pink, though translucent, fog. Fennekin could see several fairy type pokémon in the area, and the seemed to be surrounding a strange pink egg-like shape with two antenna protruding from the top of it.

"Mistress!" the floette exclaimed. "I brought the psychic power you told me about!"

The antenna moved, as if analyzing Fennekin. _Yes,_ a feminine voice said, transmitting the message directly into the minds of those present. _This is the one. Thank you, Floette._

Fennekin backed up. "Uh… who are you? What do you want with me?"

The voice seemed to giggle. _Fear not, dear Fennekin. I simply sensed a large amount of untapped psychic potential. As for who I am… I am a being not from this area. I arrived here quite by accident in a flash of violet and gold after being awoken._

"But… what could you want with _me_? Surely there are more powerful psychics."

The voice almost seemed to smile. _You are very powerful, my dear Fennekin, but you just have to learn to use that power._

"But, why even bring me here?"

_Well, that would be because-_

"Hey! Let me through!" shouted the newly arrived Riolu, being held back by a granbull.

_Oh? What's this?_ Asked the voice.

"I'm Fennekin's friend," Riolu explained, fighting past the bulldog pokémon. "Why did you bring her here?"

_Yes, this will do nicely…_ the voice said, not bothering to answer Riolu's question. _I sense this isn't the last I'll see of you, young ones. Farewell for now._

* * *

The next morning, at the gate to Lumiose City, Serena let the now completely healed Combee out of her pokéball. "Well, Combee," she said. "You're all healed up now. I suppose this is goodbye?"

Combee looked around, flew around for a bit, and then retreated right back into the pokéball.

"Huh," Serena said. "I guess she wants to stay, then."

On the way through the gate, however, all Fennekin could think about was her encounter with the being the previous night.

* * *

"Wait!" Fennekin called as the being started to drift away. "What's your name?!"

_My name?_ The voice asked. _My, I haven't been asked that in a while. As for what it is…_

The egg-like object unfolded itself, revealing it to be a somewhat humanoid being, with the pink object it was floating in being the bottom half of the "egg". After a few seconds, she finally introduced herself, saying aloud, "My name is Tapu Lele."

* * *

**Author's Notes: And that's a wrap for that chapter! And with it, this story has surpassed 20,000 words! Anyway, I recently bought A Hat in Time (amazing game by the way), but unfortunately, I've been playing it so much that it's cutting into my time to write. As such, in order to allow myself time to catch up, I'm extending the uploads to every fortnight, rather than weekly until I finish AHiT. Sorry about that!**

**On a different note, anyone else hyped for Mario Maker 2? It looks amazing based on what we have from the trailers and direct so far.**


	6. Half-Luminous Lumiose

**_Author's Notes: Yep, I'm putting the AN at the beginning of the chapter this time, and none of you can stop me! Anyway, again, I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. I've almost finished AHiT (I would have finished it earlier, but my PC is garbage and crashes the game half the times I try to load it), and don't worry, Chapter 7 is still on schedule; it's just taking slightly longer than I thought it would and I haven't started on Chapter 8 yet. On the bright side, this is the first chapter of anything I've written that's surpassed 10,000 words, so good for me, I guess. I'm not sure how long 7's going to be in comparison though, so don't hold your breath for more extra-long chapters like 5 and 6. And with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!_**

* * *

_Chapter VI: Half-Luminous Lumiose_

Lumiose City. Located in Central Kalos, the city is well regarded as a tourist trap, being the most populous and capital city of the region, and home to both the annual pokémon league tournament and Prism Tower, a massive glass structure dwarfing the other, already relatively tall, buildings of the city.

Entering Lumiose City through the Route Four gate, the group, despite all of them having been there before, stopped and took a moment to marvel at the beauty of the city. There were signs and billboards everywhere, grandiose buildings lining the streets, and of course people and pokémon everywhere.

"Woah…" Serena exhaled.

"It's only been a couple weeks," Calem said quietly, "but it already feels so different. So… new."

"So," Shauna said, "where do you want to go first?"

The twins looked at each other before answering simultaneously, "Prism Tower."

As the group approached the glass tower, they looked around the busy streets, noticing something strange. That being that the entire northern side of the city appeared to be in some sort of blackout, along with Prism Tower itself not being lit.

Shauna concernedly frowned at the scene. "What's going on?"

The question must have been overheard by a nearby police officer, as he answered. "The Central Kalos Power Plant, a few hours ago, stopped sending Lumiose power without warning." At the group's suddenly very worried looks, he added, "Don't worry about it too much. We're looking into it and Gym Leader Clemont generously agreed to lend his pokémon to help with powering the city. It's why only the north side and the tower have no power right now." He then moved onto another group of people entering the central plaza, presumably to inform them about the power outage as well.

Calem frowned. "Well that sucks," he said. "Where should we go now? Especially considering that a gym battle's out of the question currently."

Tierno shrugged. "I suppose we should check into the nearest pokémon center and grab some lunch."

"Well, yes, obviously," Calem responded. "But I meant what do we do after that?"

"There's always the Lumiose Museum of Art!" Trevor interjected.

Tierno groaned. "You just want to go there because they have a photography section."

Trevor frowned. "They have other sections too! Just because I like photography doesn't mean I want to go there _just_ for the photography section."

Four people, a fox, a dinosaur, and a jackal collectively raised an eyebrow each.

"Okay maybe _I_ wanted to go there for the photography section, but I suggested the museum because there's other forms of art there too!"

While the humans discussed their options, the pokémon were also conversing. "So, where do you want to go?" Bulbasaur asked Fennekin. "You've been here before, right?"

"Well, I've never really been in the city outside of the lab, so I sort of just want to explore," Fennekin explained. "What do you think, Riolu?"

"I believe the best option is to stick with Calem," Riolu replied, "as we do not know this city well, and he is our trainer."

Fennekin rolled her eyes. "Yes, that is what we _should_ do, and what we are inevitably _going _to do. What I want to know is: what do you _want_ to do?"

"Why is it that you want to know?" Riolu asked.

"Because we're bored and they," the fox pup nodded her head at the five bickering humans as they meandered their way to the pokémon center, "can't decide what to do."

"That is not a logical reason, after all, we should just stick with Calem," Riolu replied, "so why ask?"

"Because I want to know!" Fennekin responded.

"I've only known you guys for like five days or something and I already know that she isn't going to stop until you tell her," Bulbasaur said.

"Yes, and that is exactly why I'm not going to say, as it would only be reinforcing it," Riolu explained.

"What are you trying to do, train me or something?" Fennekin shot back, in a tone that was undescernable if it was ironic or not.

"GAH! Of course not! Such a thing would be unbecoming of a riolu to attempt to do!" Riolu said quickly. "After all, I respect your intelligence and-"

"I swear to Arceus you two are going to cause my blood pressure to kill me before I'm an ivysaur," Bulbasaur sighed while massaging his temples with his vines.

That seemed to shut the two of them up… for approximately five seconds.

"Okay but seriously," Fennekin said, "is there something in the city that you're embarrassed to admit that you want to see or something?"

"I do not see why you would think that. You simply pushed too hard," Riolu replied.

"Okay, fine, have it your way," Fennekin huffed. "But it's my personal mission to find out what it is you wanted to do!"

Bulbasaur rolled his eyes. "Are you two done bickering? It's starting to give me a migraine at this point."

* * *

Eventually, it was settled that, after checking into the pokémon center, the group would check out the museum, much to Tierno's chagrin.

"You know, you don't _need_ to come with us," Trevor said after Tierno's umpteenth complaint.

"It's not that I dislike the idea of going to the museum," Tierno explained, "but after arguing so much against it, it's sort of a blow to my pride, y'know?"

Trevor facepalmed. "Really? _That's_ why you've been complaining for the past fifteen minutes? A blow to your pride?!"

"Hey! It's understandable!"

"Is it really?"

"Is your inexplicable love for photography understandable?"

"Are you two seriously going to start this _now_?" Serena asked. "We are literally walking into the museum that Trevor suggested. Can you just shut up?"

"Yes, a museum, not a library," Tierno retorted.

"You two are _really_ starting to grate on my nerves at this point," Serena said, almost gritting her teeth.

"Do you realize how difficult it is to make Serena angry?" Calem interjected. "I mean, I only know how to because I've had to put up with her for sixteen years."

"Do you want to get punched in the face?" Serena asked, almost calmly.

Calem seemed to wince and almost lifted a hand to rub his jaw. "Y'know, maybe I'll just head up there and talk to Shauna."

Serena smirked. "You go do that. Let me deal with the two idiots back here."

Shauna was already examining one of the various paintings inside the museum by the time Calem caught up to her.

"I almost pity those two," Calem said once he was standing next to the brown-haired girl.

"Hmm?" Shauna looked up and behind her, noticing that Tierno and Trevor seemed to be being vehemently talked at by Serena. "What did they do?"

"They somehow managed to completely piss off my sister," Calem explained. "I didn't even know that it was humanly possible for someone other than myself to do that."

"Is it that bad?" Shauna asked.

Calem actually did rub his jaw this time. "Yes."

"Care to elaborate on why you seem to have been on the receiving end of her wrath before?"

"No."

They were silent for a few seconds before Shauna spoke. "... Anyway," she said, "do you like art?"

Calem shrugged. "It's interesting, but I've never really gotten into it." He looked at his pokémon. "Riolu seems to like it though."

Said jackal pokémon had his paw on his chin as he intently looked at a painting from the seventeenth century. "Interesting," he muttered to himself. "It would appear that human females of the time prefered large gowns. It seems surprising that it only took mere centuries for the culture to shift to what it is today."

"I'm pretty sure that most of the paintings depict formal scenes," Bulbasaur interrupted Riolu's muttering. "So, you can't really base the entire culture off of it."

"Yes, but-"

"Also, it might just be specific to Kalosian culture. Other regions could have _vastly_ different dress and traditions."

"Thank you for your insight," Riolu responded. "What else do you know about human culture?"

"To be completely honest I was just using common sense to make sure you didn't assume to much about humans from a few paintings from four hundred years ago. I don't know anything about it," Bulbasaur replied.

Riolu appeared to be slightly disappointed by this, and Fennekin extremely interested in Riou's disappointment.

"So anyway," Calem asked, "do you want to go see if this museum has any… more modern art?"

"I really hope you aren't talking about the whole modern 'art' thing," Shauna replied.

"I meant like nineteen hundreds stuff," Calem responded.

"Oh. Cubism is interesting, I suppose."

"Cubism? Is that the technical name for that weird blocky angular art from the twentieth century?"

"Yes, yes it is. I assume that's what you meant, considering that you mentioned the nineteen hundreds, and all."

"Well, yes, but I didn't know the name of it. Are you an art aficionado or something?"

"While Trevor's always been more into photography and Tierno dancing, I suppose I'm a bit of an art enthusiast."

* * *

In the end, the group wound up spending the entire afternoon in the museum. Tierno did eventually concede that it was interesting, despite Trevor pretty much dragging him back and forth through the museum's photography sections.

"It… wasn't bad," Tierno conceded. "Could've been better though."

"And how, per say, could that trip have been improved?" Trevor asked.

"Well, for one, if you didn't spend the entire time in the photography secti-"

"You could have left at any time!"

"Do you realize how big that museum is?! Why would I go off on my own?!"

"Come to think of it," Shauna asked, "what did you do, Serena? Calem and I didn't run into you after you apparently mentally scarred those two for life."

"All I did was give them a warning," Serena argued.

"You never gave me that privilege!" Calem exclaimed suddenly.

"You're my brother. I reserve the right to punch you whenever I deem it fit," Serena replied.

"I… don't think that's how things are supposed to work," Calem said.

"Besides," Shauna interjected, "Calem's the only boy here who _hasn't_ acted like a complete idiot today."

"What's this," Serena faux gasped, "Calem acting nice for a member of the opposite sex? How unusual!"

Fennekin looked up from where she was walking along with the group. _Crap! I thought so much about what Riolu likes about the city that I forgot about my other secondary goal of getting Calem and Shauna together! Maybe I should start writing these down… wait… I don't have opposable thumbs._

While the two aforementioned humans did seem to slowly turn red with that comment, Calem managed to retort, "Firstly, no, there's nothing implicated there. Secondly, I'm nice to everyone."

Serena raised an eyebrow.

"... Most people."

Serena's eyebrow extended further vertically.

"...People who I'm familiar with."

Serena nodded, apparently content with his answer.

Shauna looked confused. "You seemed nice back when we first met you a week ago."

"That's because you guys introduced him to some pokémon stuff," Serena elaborated. "He likes pokémon stuff."

"I suppose that makes sense," Shauna replied.

"So," Tierno said suddenly, interrupting the conversation, "what are we planning on doing tomorrow?"

"Well, Professor Sycamore should be back by now, so I suppose we could go see him," Trevor responded. "What do you all think?"

"That'd be interesting," Calem said. "I would like a chance to meet with the professor again."

"Ugh!" Shauna practically shouted. "Trevor! You know that as soon as we step in the building he's going to ask us to help him with something!"

"And… that's a bad thing?" the orange-haired teen asked.

"Well… no. But still! I, at least, want to explore the city a bit more!" Shauna replied.

"Don't you live here?" Tierno asked.

Shauna sighed. "Yes, but it doesn't mean I got around that much. Between part time work for the professor and my own studying, I didn't get to do that much around the city."

"Tell you what," Trevor said, "if the Professor asks us to do something for him as soon as we get into the building, I'll give you five poké."

"Why don't we all just hash this out in the morning?" Serena asked. "After all, it is getting sort of dark."

Calem blinked, looking up at the darkening sky. "Did we really just manage to spend half a day in an art museum?"

"Yes, yes we did," Tierno stated, clearly in astonishment that he didn't suffer a mental breakdown while inside. "Anyway, should we head back to the pokémon center and get some dinner?"

The rest of the group chuckled at the abrupt change in topic, and voiced their agreement.

* * *

That night, in Fennekin's mind, she awoke to a void of complete darkness. Her eyes widened. _Oh no, please no,_ she thought. _I don't need _more _nightmares!_

_Fear not, dear Fennekin,_ a familiar voice telepathically said. _This is no nightmare. It is simply a space that I can easily speak to you._

Fennekin looked around wildly. "Who? What? Huh?"

The voice seemed to cuckle. _It has only been a day. Surely you have not forgotten me yet?_

"Tapu Lele?" Fennekin asked. "Oh. Wait, if you can speak to me mentally in dreams, then why did you send a floette to get me yesterday?"

_I had to get a good reading on your mind first. Only cresselia and darkrai can interact with people and pokémon in dreams without first meeting them, and I am only able to speak with you because I am a powerful psychic and happen to be in the area._

"Okay…" Fennekin replied, seeming to process the situation. "So, why are you speaking with _me_, of all pokémon?"

_It is simple,_ Tapu Lele said. _You have the potential to be an incredibly powerful psychic. Overcoming your condition will be incredibly difficult, but utilizing it would be worth it._

Fennekin's eye twitched.

_Did… I say something wrong?_

"No, it's just that my schizophrenia is a bit of a touchy subject." The fox pup sighed. "Granted, I'm on my meds, so not as much of a touchy subject as it would be otherwise, but still."

_Ah. I apologize._

"No, it's fine." There was a bit of an awkward silence for a few seconds. "Anyway, why are you even here? Really strong psychics like yourself tend to have jobs to do, at least that's what Mom told me."

_Well, I suppose that I am technically supposed to watch over Akala Island, but I barely do that anyway and I am not entirely sure how to get back to Alola from here. There was a gold and violet flash and I was here, and then I detected your presence._

Fennekin blinked. "That… doesn't sound good. Are you sure you don't need to watch over that island?"

_I am fairly certain that I inadvertently cause most of the danger that befalls Akala, so it will not miss my presence. Anyway, I would like to get to training you in the mental arts._

"Wait hold up what?" Fennekin suddenly asked. "I'm confused."

_Please, elaborate._

"Well," the fox pup responded, "I already got the "why me?" question answered, but what about Riolu? Didn't you say he had to do something?"

_Ah, I can see why that would be confusing how I did not mention it. All riolu and lucario are intuitively linked to aura, but that riolu's aura is so intense that even _I_, a psychic fae, could feel it. Granted, I have trained myself to notice such things, but the point still stands._

"So Riolu and I are just really powerful?" Fennekin asked.

_Yes. Now, is that all of your questions?_

"I think," Fennekin responded. "What now?"

_Well, with all of the questions out of the way, your mental training can commence. Now, I cannot manipulate a dream state in order for you to actually be able to see me, nor can create a field to work with, so unless we can meet in person again at some point, we will have to work with the apparent void._

"Could we use a dream that I'm already having?"

_It is possible, but you are plagued by night terrors, correct?_

"Well, yes, but it's strange. I can't remember any of them, even immediately when I wake up."

_You might have to discuss that topic with someone who deals with dreams. As of right now, I do not think that it would be a good idea to mess with those, considering the odd effects they seem to have on your psyche._

There was a pause as Fennekin thought about it. "I guess you're probably right. So, anyway, training?"

_Ah, yes. So, to start with the basics of being a psychic, it would probably be best to learn a beginner's psychic move and move on from there._

"Oh!" Fennekin suddenly shouted. "I already know one! Hypnosis is fun!"

Despite not actually being visible, Tapu Lele managed to transmit the feeling of a surprised eye blink through telepathy. _Well… okay then. I was going to provide you with a list of possible moves to learn and how to train to get them, but it seems that you have already started._

Fennekin looked slightly sheepish. "Well, I can't really use Hypnosis that reliably yet, and I don't really know any of theory behind it."

_I see. Perhaps you can keep working on Hypnosis by training with that riolu, and work on learning Psybeam next._

"I guess that would be good," Fennekin said. "What about psychic theory?"

_For that, we will most likely have to speak again at some point. It is getting rather late in the morning outside your mind, so you should probably wake up._

Fennekin nodded, then seemed to panic slightly. "Wait, how late?"

_I think it is about nine thirty._

* * *

As it turned out, Fennekin's small panic attack was completely unwarranted, since other than Riolu, she was the first one up.

"Good morning, Fennekin," Riolu said, upon noticing that Fennekin was awake. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sort of?" Fennekin questioned herself. "Do you remember how we met Tapu Lele two nights ago?"

Riolu nodded. "Of course. What of it?"

"Apparently she can telepathically communicate with people in dreams," Fennekin elaborated. "And apparently I'm just really good with psychic stuff and you're just really good with aura stuff."

"Oh." Riolu said simply. "So, does this mean more training?"

"Apparently, yes," Fennekin replied.

Riolu grinned. "When do we start?"

Fennekin blinked tiredly at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Training," Riolu stated. "You know, the thing with the sparring and the getting stronger and the other stuff."

"Yes, I get that," Fennekin said, "but did I just get the impression that you want to begin training _now_?"

"Well, yes," Riolu responded. "What's barring us from beginning training?"

Fennekin simply pointed to the currently sleeping Calem and Bulbasaur.

"Ah," Riolu said. "Yes, I can see how that would be a potential roadblock." He rolled his shoulders. "However, there is a simple remedy to this situation." He jumped onto the bed.

"You're just going to push him off of the bed again, aren't you?"

"Yes."

There was a sound much like that of a heavy object hitting a wooden floor, mostly because that is exactly what happened.

* * *

Four more people waking up, a meal, and an hour later, five semi-tired pokémon trainers and three pokémon made their way into Professor Sycamore's lab, just as the Professor himself was walking down the stairs.

"Ah, Tierno, Trevor, Shauna!" he exclaimed. "How nice to see you! If you have a moment, could you all help me with something?"

Shauna smugly held out her hand as Trevor reluctantly handed her five poké.

"Sure thing, Professor," Tierno said. "What is it?"

"I just need some help in setting things up for my next experiment, and my other assistants are a bit busy," Sycamore explained.

Serena tilted her head. "Out of curiosity, Professor, what are you studying?"

Sycamore smiled. "I'll be happy to explain." He gestured for the group to follow him down a hallway. As they walked, he spoke. "We've actually been working on rather secretive research for the most part, but since most of it has been declassified, I can talk about it."

Trevor blinked. "I never heard about anything being classified while we were working here." He turned to the other two part-time researchers. "Did you two?"

Shauna and Tierno shook their heads.

"Only the higher-ups in the lab knew about it," Sycamore elaborated. "The knowledge was pretty much limited to us, the rest of the regional professors, the regional champions and elite fours, a few gym leaders, and a few select people in the public." The professor smiled. "However, our research went public just yesterday, actually."

"So," Calem began, "what exactly is this super secretive research?"

"I'm glad you asked," Sycamore said. The group reached a room where a garchomp, wired to several monitors, was holding a small stone. "Recently, Gym Leader Korina approached us, saying that her grandfather, Gurkin, and his lucario had come across a pair of strange stones. Soon after, the stones seemed to react to their presence, and the lucario transformed into a stronger version of himself."

The group's eyes widened at the implication. "Like… another undiscovered evolution?" Serena asked.

"Not quite," Sycamore responded. "While at this point we hadn't really named it, the media's taken to calling it 'mega evolution.' It's not entirely correct-it's more like a form change than anything else-but it's the best we've got right now. It allows pokémon that we previously thought to have reached full evolution to change into an even stronger form, and as of right now, we know of forty species of pokémon that can mega evolve, and Steven Stone in Hoenn has been searching for more as well."

Tierno looked at the garchomp. "I'm assuming garchomp's one of them?"

Sycamore nodded. "That," he said, gesturing to the stone Garchomp was holding, "is what we're calling a garchompite, the stone needed for the pokémon, in this case Garchomp, to mega evolve. This," he continued, raising his right arm and pointing to a stone embedded in the ring he had around his wrist, "is a keystone, needed by the pokémon's trainer."

Sycamore then touched the tips of his left fingers onto the keystone, and a bright light enveloped Garchomp, as the machines recorded energy readings, vital signs, and other information. Upon the light fading, Garchomp appeared changed. He was all around more angular, and the red portions of his body had grown. His claws had morphed into his forfins, and appeared like scythes. His dorsal and tail fins had sharpened, and number of spikes on his body had at least doubled, if not more.

"And this," Sycamore said after the transformation completed, "is Mega Garchomp."

The entire group took a few steps back upon seeing the mega-evolved pokémon. "Holy crap…" Tierno whispered, and while the rest of them did not vocalize it, they were thinking much the same thing.

"Just how much stronger his he like this?" Trevor stammered, rather intimidated. Garchomp had been one of Sycamore's heavy hitters back when he did the league run, before he got into research and Professor Oak had taken him under his wing, so the pokémon was already powerful before the mega evolution. Just how much it had powered him up, however, was quite the unknown to the group.

Sycamore simply grinned. "Well, I could rattle off a few numbers relating to muscle mass, bite strength, and a few other things, but I feel like this would be simpler." One of the professor's assistants placed a steel bar in front of Mega Garchomp, and Sycamore simply said, "Use Bite."

Mega Garchomp used Bite. The steel bar lost.

As the group stared on in awe, Sycamore said, "But anyway, that's not what I needed your help with." He tapped his keystone again, and Garchomp reverted to his normal form. "Follow me."

Sycamore led the group to the lab's indoor pokémon sanctuary, where a large amount of pokémon were meandering around, going about their daily lives. Most appeared to be wild-caught, except for a pair of delphox that appeared to be helping a young researcher.

_The point is so we can observe how dunsparce interact with each other in their natural environment,_ the male Delphox projected telepathically.

_Plus,_ the female on added, _even most other pokémon almost never see _a _dunsparce, let alone multiple. Seeing how they interact here could help people understand them better in the future._

Fennekin, who had recognized the two almost immediately upon noticing them, quickly jumped off of Calem's shoulder the second she thought that they were done talking. "Mom! Dad!" she excitedly shouted.

The two delphox smiled as they turned around, the male one quickly projecting, _Hold on a moment, Jonathan. We'll be a bit,_ before greeting his daughter.

"How're you doing, pup?" he asked, picking her up as she ran towards them.

"It's been really good!" Fennekin responded, "My trainer's Calem-he's the boy in blue-and I have two teammates already and we've already defeated one gym leader!"

Her mother smiled wider at her daughter's enthusiasm. "And which of the pokémon around here are your teammates?"

Fennekin pointed to the two as she referred to them. "Calem caught Riolu on Route Twenty-Two after he challenged us to a battle, which I won, by the way, and Bulbasaur joined us after Professor Sycamore battled us with him and the two other Kanto starters after there was apparently a mix up in the shipping."

Her father chuckled. "Well, that's certainly quite the mess up. I sort of have to wonder what the repercussions were for that person."

"Everyone else seems to think that they probably got fired," Fennekin said, "but I think, with the speed that Professors Sycamore and Oak worked it out, they probably just got off with a scolding and a pay cut."

Her mother chuckled this time. "You said that you've defeated a gym, right? How did that go?"

"It was really fun!" Fennekin exclaimed. "Riolu learned Hidden Power and he can shoot fire now and in the training I learned that I can do this, look!" A circle of grass about five meters away promptly caught fire.

The two delphox looked at their daughter, impressed. "That was interesting," Fennekin's father said "Did you do that in the gym battle?"

"Well, in the gym battle, it was more a hemisphere of hot air around me, I hadn't realized I could direct it yet, and Powder explodes on contact with it and makes me lose concentration. Ooh! I learned Hypnosis, too! I almost forgot about that!"

As Fennekin enthusiastically discussed her time as a team member with her parents, Calem approached Sycamore, who was explaining to Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna how to correctly observe the dunsparce. "The dunsparce are really hard to get close to without them scattering, even here," the professor said, "so it's best to approach them quietly, if you have to at all. Got it?"

The trio of friends nodded, and started intently observing the elusive pokémon, pencils and notebooks in hand.

"Excuse me, Professor," Calem began once it was apparent that Sycamore had finished talking, "but I have a couple questions. Could you answer them for me?"

Sycamore turned around to look at Calem and smiled. "Well, that would depend on the questions," he said. "I'm assuming some are about mega evolution?" Calem nodded. "While the majority of information is available to the public, some is still confidential," the professor explained, face straightening, "so know that I won't be able to answer everything."

The two started to walk away from the group of researchers. "Well, the main thing I wanted to ask is what pokémon that you know can mega evolve, and how much stronger do they get?" Calem responded. "Is that answerable?"

Sycamore smiled again. "A full list would take way too long to say, but I might be able to put some data together and get it to you by… hmm… will you be passing by Coumarine City in mid-October?"

Calem calculated some mental math. "Two weeks to get to Ambrette from here and then two weeks to Cyllage, probably about a week there, a week up the coast to Geosenge and then another week to Shalour, and a week or two there, yeah, I'll be in the area. Why then?"

"Well," Sycamore replied, "the summer camp I host there is normally this month, but because of everything going on with the mega evolution research I've had to push it back to mid-October."

"I'm cool with waiting until then. Also, I just wanted to ask-"

Before Calem could finish what he was saying, Fennekin ran up to him excitedly yipping about something, forgetting that the two humans could not understand her, her parents in tow.

"These," Professor Sycamore said to Calem with a smile, gesturing to the two delphox, "are Fennekin's parents."

_Greetings, Calem,_ Fennekin's mother telepathically said. Upon seeing Calem's surprised look, she chuckled and added, _Yes, we can communicate with humans. It's quite useful._

"Huh," Calem said simply. "Well, that makes things a lot easier than the charades and voice tone interpretation that I've had to have been doing to somewhat understand my pokémon."

The male delphox chuckled along with his mate. _Well, yes, it does make things quite a bit easier. Though, it would seem that our daughter has forgotten that she can't communicate telepathically yet._

Fennekin backed up from Calem's legs a bit sheepishly.

_Anyway,_ said the female delphox, _what Fennekin was trying to say is that she's started to figure out a rudimentary form of psybeam that we've helped her with a bit._

Calem blinked. "Well, that'll be useful later." He looked up. "Come to think of it, where's Serena?"

"Directly behind you," his sister said flatly, startling Calem and Fennekin while Sycamore and the delphox laughed slightly. She handed him a piece of paper. "That's the receipt for the tickets. I decided to go ahead and buy them because you and Shauna payed for our supplies back in Aquacorde."

Calem's eyes widened as he looked over the receipt. "Fifteen hundred poké per ticket?!" Calem practically shouted. He turned to look at Serena. "Please don't tell me you expect me to pay this back. I don't even have three thousand poké on me."

Serena shook her head. "It's just me and Shauna going anyway," she explained. She looked at the two delphox. "I'm assuming that these are Fennekin's parents? I didn't realize she's lab bred."

_I… suppose you could put it that way, but yes, we are Fennekin's parents,_ the female delphox replied. _What of it?_

"Nothing, really," Serena replied. "It's just interesting to meet a pokémon's parents. You don't really normally get a sense for the family structure of pokémon."

_Well, neither of us are wild-caught,_ the male chipped in, _so us and Fennekin might not be the best baseline._

"The way wild pokémon care for their young varies wildly between species," Sycamore added. "Some barely spend a month caring for young, while other species form colonies. It's quite interesting, in my opinion."

_Considering that that's part of your field of work, it makes sense, _the female delphox deadpanned.

That elicited a laugh from Sycamore. "Yes, I suppose it is something I find interesting because of my work." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, is there anything else you wanted to ask, Calem?"

"Not at the moment, no." He looked at the three observing the dunsparce. "Is there anything that we could do to help?"

Sycamore thought about it for a moment, but shook his head. "You could probably help with something, but I legally can't pay you, since I'm not your employer."

"What is your work relationship with those three, anyway?" Serena asked. "It seems rather loose, considering that they're technically your employees."

"_Technically_, yes, I do employ Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor," Sycamore explained, "and they get paid accordingly. But I'm not really as strict with mandatory hours, since I'm fairly certain all of them are going to be leaving to go off on a journey at some point." He chuckled somewhat morosely. "I wouldn't be surprised if they turned in letters of resignation tomorrow. It'll be a shame to lose those three though; they have brilliant minds." He clapped his hands together as Fennekin hopped onto Calem's shoulder. "Anyway though, I could show you two around the lab a bit more. I'm sure you'll find something interesting."

* * *

They found something interesting indeed. The three humans and Fennekin, along with Bulbasaur and Riolu, who had just decided to follow along, eventually reached the room containing the charmander and squirtle that had decided not to go with Calem.

Calem and Serena were having a conversation about exactly what pokémon performing is and why she wanted to go into it when they wandered into that room, and Charmander looked up at the mention of performing. Getting up, he walked over to the teenaged girl.

"_Char_," Charmander said, catching Serena's attention. He then began to make gestures with his claws, meaning to convey that he wanted to speak with her, but only succeeded in confusing her. Fennekin almost fell off of Calem's shoulder laughing at the scene.

Eventually, Professor Sycamore headed back to the sanctuary and got one of the male delphox to translate.

_Basically,_ he said, _Charmander says that if you're going to go into performing, he wants to go with you._

Serena blinked. "Oh," she said simply. "Well, that's a bit surprising."

Charmander tilted his head, as if to ask, "Why so?"

She giggled a bit. "I suppose I was with Calem on the whole 'battle first' thing for a while, but I thought I'd gotten over it. Considering the surprise, clearly not as much as I thought."

Without much more speaking, Charmander quickly tapped one of the pokéballs Serena had and had himself be captured. "Well," Calem said, "I guess you have a charmander now."

Serena nodded, looking at the pokéball. "I guess so."

* * *

The group spent the rest of the day in the lab, and left to head back to the pokémon center at about seven o'clock, animatedly talking.

"So," Trevor stated, "what do you guys think Professor Sycamore is planning to do with the data we gathered?"

"Probably form a hypothesis and design some sort of experiment to track dunsparce movements," Shauna replied with a shrug. "Considering how rare they are, it makes sense to at least attempt in a study."

Calem nodded. "So, what are plans for tomorrow?" He looked at his sister. "I know you and Shauna are going to the performance," he turned to Trevor and Tierno, "but what about you two?"

Tierno shrugged. "I wasn't really planning on doing anything tomorrow, other than practicing."

"I was planning on getting some photographs around the city," Trevor responded. "Sure, I already have quite a few, but they can always be improved. What about you, Calem?"

"Well, I'm just planning on training my pokémon tomorrow, maybe I'll go to that place Professor Sycamore suggested for lunch." He looked at Fennekin, who had decided to simply walk next to him rather than ride on his shoulder, Riolu, and Bulbasaur. "I know we didn't really do anything today, but don't expect to get off lightly tomorrow."

Bulbasaur sighed as Fennekin and Riolu perked up. "Really, guys?" he asked. "You _want_ intensive training tomorrow?"

"Well, as long as it's not first thing in the morning," Fennekin said, "I don't really see a problem with it. I mean, I'm pretty sure Riolu's the only one that wants to train at like six in the morning or something."

Riolu smirked.

* * *

Ash's alarm blaring at five in the morning was how he planned to start his day, since his flight was at eight, but that did not mean it had to be something he particularly enjoyed. Rolling over to turn off the alarm, he yawned and got up, dressing himself and grabbing the pokéballs of the pokémon he planned to bring with him to Kalos.

Pikachu, of course, was one of them. His starter and longest partner, Pikachu had travelled with Ash for the last six years through five regions, some of his feats even including battling a latios to a draw.

Pidgeot was the second pokémon Ash had ever caught, after Caterpie. After he caught her as a pidgeotto, she was a somewhat influential part of his team until she evolved into a pidgeot while protecting a flock of fellow pidgey and pidgeotto from a flock of spearow. She decided to stay behind because of the added protection to the flock she could bring, and was not overly disappointed when Ash, being completely forgetful, as per the usual, forgot to bring her with him to Johto. She was getting a bit fed up with it come his Unova journey, though.

Sceptile had been with Ash since the latter helped the former on the latter's Hoenn journey. He eventually became one of Ash's heavy hitters, finishing off a darkrai in the Sinnoh League semifinals. During the week of training, he had started mentoring his fellow grass type Snivy, who Ash had caught in Unova and was also brining to Kalos.

When Ash first met, Charizard, as a charmander, he was waiting on a rock for his trainer. However, said trainer had simply told Charmander to stay on the rock, and had abandoned him for being "too weak." Things did not turn out so well for him after Ash rescued Charmander from a rainstorm. From that point on until he evolved into a charmeleon, Charmander was one of the most loyal of Ash's pokémon. Upon his evolution, however, he grew to resent Ash for being too weak himself, until Ash saved his life again as a charizard.

He left one space open to capture something in Kalos, and made sure to bring extra pokéballs in case he encountered more pokémon that he wanted to capture.

He quickly ran downstairs, ate breakfast (which included a cup of coffee), and met Brock, who had been staying in Pallet for the last two days, outside.

Brock was a tall man, with spiky black hair and he appeared to be constantly squinting.

"Why, exactly, do we have to be up so early?" Ash asked after the two had gotten on the road to Viridian in Brock's car.

"It's a half hour drive to Viridian City from here," Brock explained, "and I'm estimating that it'll probably be another half hour to make it to the airport and park the car. That gives us two hours to make our way through airport security, which could either take fifteen minutes or an hour and a half, so I wanted to be on the safe side."

Ash blinked. "Huh, I guess I hadn't thought of that."

Brock chuckled. "I figured you hadn't, so I went ahead and planned it out for you."

"Hey!" Ash shouted indignantly.

"Anyway," Brock laughed, "the flight's twelve and a half hours and it leaves at eight, so accounting for time zone changes, we'll be landing in Lumiose at eleven thirty. The ability to sleep on the plane is another reason I suggested we leave so early."

"I mean," Pikachu said to Ash, "you would've done that anyway."

Ash gave Pikachu a look of slight annoyance and sighed.

* * *

Riolu woke the group up at six in order to begin training. After breakfast and numerous cups of coffee, the other three complied, at which point it was seven thirty. Calem had asked Bulbasaur if he wanted to evolve eventually, to which he enthusiastically nodded, and the trainer came up with the idea to have his Grass Type stay in one spot while he had Fennekin dodging Bulbasaur and Riolu's attacks while firing back to work on Bulbasaur's defense, Fennekin's evasiveness, and Riolu's aim.

"Come on, Bulbasaur!" Fennekin taunted, taking only a moment to spit an Ember at the plant dinosaur. "Surely it's not impossible for you to hit me just because you're not moving!"

"Why did I agree to this again?" Bulbasaur asked as another Vine Whip missed and he winced from the Ember connecting.

"You want to evolve into a pokémon that's incredibly slow!" Riolu called from the sidelines, where he was running around, trying to hit Fennekin with Hidden Power. "Therefore, you're going to have to get better at ranged attacks and defense!"

"Yeah, but Fennekin's just way too fast for me to hit just with ranged attacks!" Bulbasaur complained.

"Then slow her down! It's not like _I_ can!"

"Maybe if you boys stopped arguing you'd be able to hit me!" Fennekin shouted in a sing-songy voice as she gracefully jumped over one of the Hidden Powers Riolu threw at her.

Bulbasaur growled, but did not expend energy Growling, rather sending three vines from underneath his bulb instead of the regular two, catching Fennekin somewhat off guard and causing her to trip over one and let another catch her hind right paw. Somewhat subconsciously for Bulbasaur, the vine began glowing, draining Fennekin's power. Fennekin, feeling this, went from confident to panicked extremely quickly, especially considering Riolu's Hidden Power rapidly approaching her. Suddenly, the air surrounding her combusted, burning the vine holding her in place, and she launched forward with a burst of speed that only continued accelerating, the Hidden Power flame going on and striking Bulbasaur.

The bulb on Bulbasaur's back, sensing danger and the need to heal itself, popped a single seed out of the top of it, which Bulbasaur picked up with one of his vines and tossed at Fennekin, who, while the fire had stopped and she had stopped accelerating, was still unable to have quite that much control, considering her velocity. The seed hit the ground near Fennekin, and sprouted vines itself towards her and back towards Bulbasaur, stopping the fox pup in her tracks and sapping her energy to heal the dinosaur.

Fennekin attempted to use Flame Charge again, but there were enough vines constant sprouting out of the Leech Seed that it stalled her for long enough that Riolu finally hit her with a Hidden Power.

"I yield," she said. "You two both hit me." She turned to Bulbasaur. "Was that Leech Seed or Giga Drain?"

"I think it was both," Bulbasaur explained. "The one with the vine would've been Giga Drain, and of course the seed was Leech Seed."

"Hmm… I have to wonder if we're going to be heading out of Lumiose this afternoon," Riolu pondered, walking over. "It's a shame Calem didn't go to the performance with the other two; that would've been an interesting point of human culture to observe."

"Okay I actually have to ask now," Fennekin said suddenly. "I've been watching you for the past two days now and I think what you've been interested in is how humans interact and what the overall culture is?"

"I suppose that's one way to put it, yes," Riolu answered.

"Seriously?" Bulbasaur deadpanned. "You had a massive argument about this and it was because Riolu refused to admit that he enjoys learning about human _culture_?!"

"Wait, yeah it has to be more than that," Fennekin thought aloud. Her eyes widened in realization. "Don't tell me… it's _fashion_?!"

Riolu coughed. "Erm… perhaps."

"So yes," Fennekin elaborated. "It's fashion." She smiled. "Don't worry though, fashion's a great thing to be interested in."

"Well," Riolu quickly tried to defend himself, "I'm not interested in _fashion_ fashion, but rather how human fashion shifts over time and between places."

"So you're intellectually into fashion," Bulbasaur said with a shrug. "Still fashion."

Riolu groaned.

"Aha! Now _you're_ the one being annoyed, and not me for once!" Bulbasaur shouted.

"May I remind you of the route four incident with Flabébé?" Fennekin pointed out. "You certainly weren't the one being annoyed there."

"Ahem," Riolu cleared his throat. "We should probably get back to training. The morning's still young, after all!"

* * *

The group did eventually make their way to Lysandre Café, which Sycamore had suggested the previous day, for lunch at around eleven. To their surprise, Sycamore himself was there, though he appeared to be waiting for someone when Calem had walked in.

"Ah, Calem, interesting to see just you here," he said. "I would've expected the rest of the group to come as well."

Calem shrugged. "Well, Tierno and Trevor are off doing their own things, and Serena and Shauna are at the performance, so I figured I might as well come here for lunch."

"I suppose that makes sense," Sycamore said. "Here, take a seat. I was just waiting for a couple people for a meeting."

Calem did so, and was taking a sip from the provided glass of water when the two people Sycamore had been waiting for walked in. Upon seeing who they were, it took all of Calem's willpower to not spit out the water he had in his mouth in surprise.

The first to walk in was Louis Lysandre, CEO of Lysandre Labs, Incorporated, a tech corporation thats wealth and influence in Kalos and Galar rivaled that of the Devon Corporation in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, and by extension, the owner of the very café they were in. Lysandre was a tall man, with strikingly orange hair styled to look like a male pyroar's mane. He wore a black suit with orange lining and fur near his neck, along with black pants and dress shoes, despite it being mid August. Along with all that, Fennekin felt a twinge of familiarity, like she had seen him before, but could not place it and elected to ignore it. Being in the same room as the multi millionaire would have been enough for Calem to have to hold back the spit take, but the person who walked in after him just made it worse.

Diantha Dubois, a woman wearing a white dress and a keystone necklace, entered the building. All conversation stopped for a moment. After all, it is not every day that the regional champion walks into a café.

Calem barely managed to swallow his mouthful of water by the time the two had walked over to the table he and Sycamore were at, and he gave the professor a look of complete surprise.

"Calem, well, I would say that I'd like to introduce you to these two, but I'm sure you know who they are already," Sycamore said with a chuckle.

Calem just nodded, eyes so wide with surprise it almost looked painful.

"Augustine, Diantha," Lysandre began, "from what I understand, this… mega evolution research is now public knowledge?"

Sycamore nodded.

"Good," Lysandre stated. "I can be more open in what I'm investing in."

"And I," Diantha said, "can use Mega Gardevoir, should the need arise next summer."

The conversation continued for about forty-five minutes in much the same manner without Calem saying a word, mostly about mega evolution and Lysandre Labs's funding of Professor Sycamore's research, until it eventually came to an end after the food that they had ordered had been eaten and both Diantha and Lysandre had left.

"Well, Calem," Sycamore said, standing up, "that was interesting, having someone else at the table during one of those conversations." He snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot! I meant to give this to you yesterday, but it slipped my mind." He reached into his pocket and brought out a mega stone, and handed it to Calem. "This is a venusaurite," the professor explained.

Bulbasaur looked up in complete shock.

"Th-thank you, professor," Calem stammered.

Sycamore smiled. "You're welcome. Mega stones are actually surprisingly common, once you know how to look for them. Keystones, on the other hand, are much harder to come by. Anyway, I must be off." He then took his leave.

Calem sat there for another moment or two before gathering his things, and he and his pokémon headed out, before he-quite literally-bumped into someone.

"You know, Ash," came a male voice, "in the week you've had in between journeys, I'd have thought that your dimensional awareness would've gotten better."

Calem and the boy he had bumped into noticed each other then, and a look of recognition passed both of their faces.

"Ash?" Calem asked.

"Calem?" Ash asked back, face breaking into a smile. "Fancy seeing you here. How've you been, man?"

"I've been good, you?" Calem responded.

"Same. I've been traveling, for the most part. It's been what, eight years since you moved?" Ash asked.

"Closer to ten, I think," Calem replied.

"Old friends, I take it?" the man accompanying Ash asked. He turned to Calem, hand extended for a shake. "I'm Brock, by the way."

Calem accepted the handshake. "Calem, though you probably already heard that. My sister and I used to live in Pallet Town."

"How is Serena, anyway?" Ash asked.

Fennekin suddenly looked up, as if only now realizing that this was the person Calem had said Serena had a crush on.

As the the humans trailed off into conversation, the pikachu that had fallen off of Ash's shoulder when he bumped into Calem approached Fennekin. "Hi!" he said in greeting. "I'm Pikachu! I don't think I've ever met a pokémon of your species before."

"I'm Fennekin," the fox pup replied. "You've never been to Kalos, I'm guessing?"

Pikachu shook his head. "Nope. Been to five other regions, though." He looked at Calem. "I'm guessing he's your trainer?"

Fennekin nodded. "Yup." She looked around. "Just between you and me, my trainer, Calem, said that his sister had a crush on your trainer before they moved."

Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "I don't think it's gonna go anywhere. Ash doesn't notice girls."

Fennekin looked faintly confused. "Huh?" she asked. "I would have thought that he'd at least notice girls, considering that he's a teenaged boy."

Pikachu shrugged. "There was a brief period of time when we were traveling in Hoenn that he started to notice girls, then apparently he decided it wasn't worth it and just sees girls as other people."

Fennekin blinked, then giggled. "I wonder if it's because on some subconscious level he had a crush on Serena that won't be let go?"

Pikachu looked incredulous. "Unlikely."

"But it'd be so poetic!" Fennekin exclaimed. "Two children destined to be together, swept apart by situations out of their control, only to meet again decades later, falling in love all over again!"

"I don't think that's how real life works," said Riolu, walking over.

Fennekin huffed, sitting down. "How so?"

"Well, firstly, it's decade, singular," Bulbasaur, who had overheard and walked over to provide his two cents, explained in an attempt to appear condescending.

Pikachu had to stifle his laughter as Fennekin glared at Bulbasaur for a few seconds.

"Are you sure that wasn't a glare with a capital 'G'?" Bulbasaur asked jokingly. "Because I think I felt that."

That got Fennekin to giggle slightly in response.

As the pokémon had been talking, the humans' conversation had not been stagnant. "Would you like to meet Professor Sycamore?" Calem asked. "I could lead you to his lab."

"Sure," Ash said with a shrug. "Though I would like to battle first."

That stalled Calem in place just as he was beginning to walk. "Erm… how long have you been traveling, again?"

"Since April of 2008," Brock chimed in ever-so-helpfully.

Calem only looked slightly more terrified.

Ash chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll be using one of my newer captures."

"Define 'newer,'" Calem nervously replied.

"I caught Snivy last year," Ash explained.

"Not really reassuring," Calem responded. "I only have three pokémon, anyway."

"It's fine," Ash said. "I was only going to ask for a one-on-one, anyway. My pokémon have spent the last week or so training, so it'd be a sort of test for Snivy."

Calem sighed, resigning himself to what he knew would be a loss. "I'm assuming you want me to use Fennekin?"

Said fox pup looked up in response to hearing her name.

Ash nodded. "I think we passed a practice field on the way here, we could go use that," he said as Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder and he started to walk away.

"Let's go, then," Calem replied, gesturing for his pokémon to follow him as he walked after Ash.

* * *

Luckily, when the group arrived at the practice battlefield, it was not in use. Ash and Calem, however, quickly changed that, preparing for battle, with Brock acting as the referee.

"This will be a single battle with one pokémon on either side," Brock called. "Begin!"

"Alright Fennekin, you're up!" Calem shouted, as the fox pup ran out onto the field.

Ash unhooked a pokéball from his belt. "Let's go, Snivy! It's time to see how much you've grown!"

While the grass snake was materializing onto the battlefield. Fennekin took a moment to consider her opponent. While she had the advantage by type, when it came to experience, Fennekin was sure that her opponent had the upper hand.

"Fennekin, start things off with an Ember!" Calem ordered.

Fennekin spat out the wad of fire at the Snivy, which the snake promptly avoided.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" she taunted.

Fennekin smirked. "Well, you won't be able to dodge while you're asleep!" Then she used Hypnosis.

Snivy's eyes widened, not expecting Fennekin to pull out a move like Hypnosis so early, and managed to fire of a quick Leaf Tornado before sleep overtook her. Despite the move being Grass Type, the individual leaves were still quite sharp, causing Fennekin to wince and disrupting her concentration. As such, Snivy was only lightly asleep, and awoke to a single Ember attack.

"Watch out for that, Snivy!" Ash called.

"Oh, and you think I didn't already figure that out?!" Snivy shouted back.

Before Fennekin could take advantage of the slight distraction, Snivy rushed forward with a Tackle, ramming into the fox pup before she could react. Fennekin winced, and tried to fire off a close range Ember, but Snivy dodged out of the way extremely quickly.

_Dang,_ Calem thought. _Snivy probably already knows to throw Fennekin off before she can try another Hypnosis. We might be able to pull of something, though._ "Fennekin!" he called aloud. "Light the air on fire!"

The fox pup quickly heated up the air around her, Snivy shying away from the sudden uptick in temperature, and directed enough of it in a single space that the hydrogen in the air began to combust.

Now psychically directing a ball of fire around to incinerate Snivy's mentally disruptive attacks before they could reach her, Fennekin allowed herself to come up with a more offensive plan. She quickly fired off a few Ember attacks, though none connected.

A few minutes passed, with the two pokémon testing each other's ability to avoid or destroy their attacks, Snivy not daring to get close with the extremely hot air surrounding Fennekin, and Fennekin being unable to hit Snivy. Eventually, Calem realized that the two were in a stalemate, as neither could hit the other; Snivy was just too fast.

"If it's speed you want, it's speed you'll get!" Calem shouted. "Fennekin, try Flame Charge!"

The fox pup looked slightly worried at the prospect, as she had not had time to practice the move, but tried anyway. Unfortunately, she was still unused to the sudden speed boost, and streaked far to the left of her target. As she curved back around, Snivy took advantage of Fennekin's momentum, and tossed a rock into her path. The Fire Type tumbled towards Snivy, flames dispersing as she fell, and the grass snake grabbed Fennekin with Vine Whip and threw the fox over her head, slamming her into the ground and rushing forward with a Tackle hard enough to knock her unconscious.

The entire exchange took three seconds.

Fennekin was slowly regaining her senses as the group walked over to the two pokémon. "Nice work, Snivy!" Ash exclaimed, picking up the grass snake.

"You did great, Fennekin," Calem said, kneeling down to spray a potion onto Fennekin as Riolu and Bulbasaur also walked over.

Suddenly, two massive metal claws shot out from over the trees, one grabbing Fennekin and the second latching onto Pikachu. Calem, taken completely by surprise, took slightly too long to lunge for the quickly receding claw, and only succeeded in banging his left arm on the ground.

There was the sound of mad laughter as a hot air balloon in the shape of a meowth ascended above the trees, followed by the two people in the basket striking poses. A male and a female, the latter having incredibly long, red hair and the former short-cut, purplish blue hair. Both were wearing white uniforms with large red 'R's plastered on their chests.

"To protect the world from devastation," said the female.

The male continued. "To unite all peoples within our na-" he said before being cut off.

"Pidgeot," Ash stated, almost calmly, throwing the pokéball forward, "get Pikachu and Fennekin and then get the Rockets out of here."

A meowth sprang up onto the lip of the basket, and to Calem's complete astonishment, spoke Common. Albeit, with an accent. "Ya can't just interrupt da motto!" he shouted. "Dere will be consequences for dis!"

The scratch cat pokémon lifted what appeared to be a net-firing gun, though he never got the chance to shoot as one of the claws exploded.

Or, at least, that is what it appeared to be to everyone at first, but in reality, Fennekin had hyperventilated enough that the hydrogen in the air combusted in a ball of flame, releasing the fox pup from the claw's grasp and sending her tumbling downward. Riolu ran over and caught her out of the air before she could fall the full eight meters, but the force of it still knocked both of them out.

Pikachu, realizing that he was probably on his own other than Pidgeot, rolled his eyes at the Rocket's stupidity, cloaked himself in a Volt Tackle, and pumped enough electricity into the claw that it short circuited and opened. While he was falling, he cucked an Eelectro Ball at the balloon for good measure, and then stuck the landing.

Unfortunately, using an Electro Ball might not have been the best thing to do, as the female in the balloon quickly summoned a wobbuffet out of a pokéball to use Mirror Coat, reflecting the ball of electricity towards Pidgeot.

Before the Electro Ball could reach the bird pokémon, however, a froakie jumped out of the trees and took the full force of Pikachu's attack. Understandably, this knocked the frog out in a single hit, but bought Pidgeot enough time to fly in and use Hurricane on the balloon, tearing the fabric and sending it flying.

"Jessie, did you expect Pidgeot to be back?" the male asked as they were flying off.

Jessie rolled her eyes and answered sharply, "No, James, no I did not."

"Are we gonna say it?" Meowth asked as the balloon was quickly receding from view from the ground.

The two humans heaved a sigh, and then all three shouted in unison, "Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

As the balloon disappeared with a twinkle, Ash, who had returned Snivy in the chaos, and Brock had already knelt down next to the froakie. "We need to get him to a pokémon center," Brock concluded, and Ash picked the frog up.

Calem stood up from where he had been applying potions to Riolu and Fennekin, though the latter was still unconscious, and the former was sitting down rubbing his head. "The closest place that you can get him healed is Professor Sycamore's lab," Calem stated. "Riolu, Bulbasaur, is it okay if I return you so that we can run there as fast as possible?"

The two of Calem's pokémon that were conscious nodded, and he returned all three before nodding at Ash and Brock, and the three ran off.

* * *

The three humans and Pikachu burst through the doors of Sycamore's laboratory with a crash, immediately attracting the attention of the Professor, who had looked like he was about to leave. "What happe-" he began to ask, but cut himself off upon seeing the injured froakie. "Follow me."

As the group was quickly walking down the hallway, Calem spoke. "Professor," he said, "I think Fennekin had a panic attack."

"Bring her to the sanctuary and have her meet with her parents," Sycamore answered swiftly.

Calem nodded, splitting off from the group and heading to the lab's sanctuary, where he encountered the delphox pair. He released Fennekin from her pokéball, and in the time of the run, she had apparently awoke, as as soon as she saw her parents, she bolted towards them with tears in her eyes.

The two delphox embraced their child. "What happened, pup?" the father asked.

Fennekin sniffled and tried to fall into her parents' embrace more. "It-it was so scary. There was a giant metal claw and two people andIdon'tknowwhybuttheytriedtotakemeawayandIwasscaredand-"

"Fennekin, dear," the mother said, stroking the pup's head, "deep breaths."

Fennekin's hysteric breathing and sniffling eventually, over the course of several minutes, slowed down to levels that she was able to speak coherently, though choked up whenever she tried to.

_Perhaps we should have Calem explain what happened,_ the father psychically transmitted.

Calem blinked, but got to explaining. "Fennekin had just finished battling on of Ash's pokémon-Ash is an old friend of mine-and then these two giant claws just came out of the trees and grabbed Fennekin and Ash's pikachu."

The parents' eyes widened. _Who?_ they both asked simultaneously.

Calem gulped. "Team Rocket," he replied. "They're a crime syndicate from Kanto, but last I had heard, which, granted, was just before I moved ten years ago, they only operated in that specific region."

The female delphox's eyes narrowed. _That… is certainly not good. If criminals are after you and Fennekin…_

"Mom…" Fennekin interrupted before her mother could finish her thought. "I still want to keep traveling."

Her mother looked down, nodding sadly. "I understand," she said. "But… you do understand that you won't be able to have us comfort you if you have another panic attack out there."

Fennekin looked her mother in the face indignantly. "I know, and it just means that I'll have to find a way to cope with them while traveling. I'll just have to get psychically stronger."

Though her mother still seemed concerned, Fennekin's father laughed, ruffling the pup's fur. "That's my girl!"

Fennekin pouted slightly, but quickly perked up. "Oh, the pokémon that I battled as a snivy. Granted, she had been training for about a year, apparently, so I lost, but it was still a fun battle! Oh, and I learned Flame Charge earlier today, but I can't control it all that well."

Her parents smiled. "How's progress on psybeam going?" the female delphox asked.

"Well," Fennekin began, but she was cut off by a loud crash and several alarms going off.

_Those are the property alarms,_ the male delphox quickly said, eyes wide. _Which means the lab's been broken into. And the crash sounds like it came from…_

All four came to the same terrible realization at the same time. "_Garchomp._"

By the time the four had sprinted to Garchomp's quarters, running into Sycamore, Ash, Pikachu, and Brock along the way with the now healed Froakie hopping along, they were too late to stop what was happening.

Team Rocket had broken in, apparently knocked out the lab aides in the room, and managed to get what seemed to be some sort of collar onto Garchomp. The Dragon Type had turned on the would-be captors, the sparking collar and glowing red eyes certainly giving off an intimidating presence.

"Jamse, you dimwit!" Jessie shouted as the three backed up, the aforementioned James cowering in fear.

"W-well how was _I_ supposed to know that the collar would malfunction?" James asked in response.

Garchomp roared as he prepared a Hyper Beam.

Meowth's eyes widened. "I don't think he's very happy wit us…"

"Garchomp, stop!" Sycamore shouted, running into the room.

Garchomp did not stop. However, the moment of distraction caused him to fire the Hyper Beam at the floor directly in front of Team Rocket, only sending them careening out of the hole in the wall they had made and out of sight, as opposed to hitting them dead-on and doing much more damage. The land shark then blasted a second hole out of the wall, and flew away.

Professor Sycamore swore in native Kalosian, and those who could understand, mostly being the other lab aides that had rushed in, looked at him incredulously.

He cleared his throat. "Pardon."

Unexpectedly for everyone there but Brock, Ash and Pikachu quickly leapt out of the hole Garchomp had made and started running after him, Brock himself and Calem, along with the two delphox and Fennekin, not very far behind.

"Ash!" Calem shouted after the surprisingly fast teen. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"Stopping Garchomp from doing any more damage, of course!" Ash called over his shoulder.

"Are you insane?!"

Ash shouted something Brock and Calem could not hear at this point. "I'm fairly certain the answer to that question is 'Yes,'" Brock replied for Ash.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting," Serena said to her companion as she and Shauna walked out of the theater.

Shauna stretched. "I know, right? It was so cool that Aria herself performed!"

Serena chuckled. "I'm guessing 'Kalos Queen' is the highest title a performer can earn?" she asked.

The native Kalosian girl nodded enthusiastically. "Funny story, actually. At one point in history, there was a man that had managed to convince everyone that he was female-"

Unfortunately, before Shauna could finish, Garchomp flew by, launching Hyper Beams left and right, though luckily people got out of the way before they could do any serious bodily damage. The two girls' eyes widened.

"Was that…" Serena began.

Shauna nodded. "Professor Sycamore's garchomp."

The people running after Garchomp, however, surprised the two somewhat more.

"Ash!?" Serena practically shouted as the teen ran by at unnaturally fast speeds.

"Oh hi Serena sorry I don't really have time to talk right now okay bye!" Ash said as he ran by, Pikachu clinging to his shoulder.

The two delphox levitated themselves much faster than the humans were running, quickly gaining on Ash. Calem and Brock were next, Calem calling, "We're just trying to make sure Ash doesn't die!"

The two girls looked at each other, nodded, and started jogging next to Professor Sycamore.

The Professor looked at the two as he ran. "How have you two been?" he asked, panting.

"Y'know, seeing a performance, having fun, the usual. Why's Garchomp acting like this?" Shauna asked.

"Team Rocket, apparently," Sycamore replied simply.

Serena's eyes widened in realization. "They're in _Kalos_?!"

Sycamore sighed. "Apparently only their incompetent ones, at least, but they're causing more damage than they even tried to cause in the first place!"

Finally, they caught up to Ash, Calem, and Brock, who had stopped at the foot of Prism Tower, where Garchomp had taken up refuge at the top.

"Ash, you'll get yourself killed if you go up there," Calem said, having already returned Fennekin at her request.

Ash smirked, sending out Pidgeot, Charizard, Sceptile, and Snivy. "Only if I die."

Calem just looked at Ash confusedly as he boarded Pidgeot.

"Charizard, Pikachu, with me," Ash said, though perhaps his mentioning of Pikachu was somewhat redundant, with the mouse already on his shoulder. "Sceptile, Snivy, keep people away from the tower, we don't want anyone getting hurt." Froakie hopped over, and Ash shrugged, figuring that he might as well taking him along anyway and putting him on his other shoulder.

"Geodude!" Brock called, sending said pokémon out. "Help Sceptile and Snivy."

The two delphox started levitating themselves upward. _We might as well help out anyway,_ the female reasoned.

With the delphox and Froakie preventing Garchomp from moving and Pidgeot and Charizard countering any projectiles Garchomp might toss out, it only took a well-placed Iron Tail from Pikachu and a quick Aura Sphere from Ash to break the collar. Garchomp promptly fainted afterward from the sheer amount of energy he had spent on flying for quite a bit and using several Hyper Beams in quick succession.

* * *

The rest of the day was filled with paperwork for everyone involved with the Garchomp incident. Even by the end of the day, Sycamore still had piles of papers to sort through due to all of the legal troubles that had been caused, especially with Team Rocket disappearing in the chaos. He had told the others, however, that they were free to go.

"Dang," Tierno said as the rest of them recapped the situation to him and Trevor. "Sounds like a really sucky afternoon."

Shauna sighed. "Yeah, yeah it was."

"Anyway, what's everyone planning?" Trevor asked. "I'm pretty sure at this point that we've all kind of agreed to split up."

"I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm planning on heading out to Route Five tonight," Calem responded. "Need to remind myself how to pitch a tent."

Tierno and Trevor chuckled.

"I'm not sure," Shauna said. "But I think Ash and Serena are going to be heading back to Santalune."

The group looked at the two, who were conversing separately to the other five. Fennekin smirked at Bulbasaur and Riolu, who only shrugged.

"That's the plan," Brock inputted. "We're probably going to leave tomorrow morning, through."

Tierno considered it for a bit. "I'm probably going to stay in Lumiose for a while. Trevor?"

"Same," responded the orange-haired boy.

"Well," Shauna said, "I guess this is goodbye for now?"

"I mean, I still have to get my stuff from the pokémon center," Calem chuckled.

* * *

Calem breathed in the crisp late-summer air as he exited Lumiose City through the Route Five gate. "It's great to be back on the road, isn't it?" he asked.

His pokémon voiced their agreement.

Despite the excitement to get going and the quick departure, the group had barely made it fifty meters before someone called after them. "Hey, Calem! Wait up!"

The group turned around as Shauna ran up to them, panting. "Do you mind if I travel with you? Lumiose's great and all, but it kinda got boring after a bit and I don't think I want to travel with Ash and Serena. They seem pretty happy as it is with them and Brock."

Calem chuckled. "Sure, why not? It's always safer the larger the group, anyway. Are your pokémon in agreement?"

Chespin and Toba, who had been trailing behind for a bit, nodded.

"Off to Camphrier, then?" Shauna asked.

"Off to Camphrier," Calem responded.

* * *

On the night of August fifteenth, two thousand thirteen, Tapu Lele floated in the cave she had chosen to stay in, thinking to herself. She had attempted to communicate with Fennekin that night, but the fox was apparently locked in another nightmare and her subconscious rejected any foreign influence while it was going on. As such, the guardian deity of Akala Island sat in the cave, watching water drip from a stalactite on the ceiling onto the floor, wondering what to do.

Drip.

_My altar is much better kept that this, it would seem._

Drip.

_Granted, I suppose this is what I get for deciding to stay in a cave in the middle of the ocean._

Drip.

_I suppose I should probably look over the area to make sure that no one has fou-_

Tapu Lele's thoughts were cut off and she suddenly tilted sideways as a powerful psychic force slammed into her mind. Lele's mind immediately jumped to Fennekin, though that thought was quickly discarded, as the fox pup was simply not strong enough yet. _What could this be…_ the legendary pokémon thought.

She floated out of the cave, looking up at the stars, and sighed. _There are so few stars visible here because of that city nearby,_ she thought. _A solgaleo would be quite unpleased_.

She shook her head, focusing on the psychic. Deciding that it appeared to have come from the southwest, she nodded to herself, and floated off. Though, the more she thought about it, Tapu Lele could not help but feel that something was slightly off about considering this to be a psychic incident.

* * *

On Kalos Route Twenty-Two, a sleeping lucario's eyes suddenly shot open as a wave of unidentifiable feeling washed over her, though she could have sworn that she had felt it before. It almost felt like an aura that had been changed somehow. It almost felt...deathly.

* * *

Off the shore of Shalour City, the mega evolution guru Gurkin, already a light sleeper, awoke as his keystone let out a short, low hum and a dim glow for a few seconds. In all his years of studying mega evolution, never had something like this happened.

Immediately, he shot out of bed, grabbing the keystone, and he could already hear his granddaughter making her way down the stairs. "Grandfather," Gym Leader Korina said as she opened his door, "did your-"

Gurkin cut her off with a nod, and said, "I'll inform Professor Sycamore of this. As of right now, you have gym leader duties to take care of tomorrow, get some rest."

Korina nodded and ran back up the stairs towards her room.

* * *

In the Cyllage City General Hospital, an old man, who had been on the brink of death for months, suddenly seized up as his heart gave out. By the time the wave of energy that the others had felt had passed, he was no longer alive.

* * *

In a tent on Route Five, Calem shifted in his sleep and rolled over to his left, Riolu drowsily opened his eyes before falling back asleep, and Fennekin twitched as her nightmares worsened.

* * *

And on Route Nine, two men dressed in orange exited Glittering Cave, and one lifted a hand to his ear, seemingly speaking into a communication device.

"The Egg is volatile, boss," he said. "We lost the subject in the test."

"As was expected," came a female voice over the device. "Continue analysis. More grunts will be sent to your position."

"To keep out the tourists?" the second man asked.

"Of course," the female said. "Make sure you keep the tourists out and the police unsuspecting. Hail Flare!"

"Hail Flare!"


	7. Palaces Partitioned

_Chapter VII: Palaces Partitioned_

"So, we'll reach Camphrier on Sunday," Calem said as the group walked along Route Five. "What are we thinking about doing while we're there?"

Shauna shrugged. "There's not a performance going on while we'll be there-I checked," she replied. "If we're gonna be spending a couple days there, though, we'll probably want to visit Shabboneau Castle, probably Parfum Palace as well."

Calem nodded. "And we could check out the Battle Chateau on the way out."

Fennekin, Riolu, and Bulbasaur looked up curiously at the mention of the Battle Chateau. Calem, noticing this and also Shauna's curious look, decided to elaborate. "The Battle Chateau is, well, it's a battling facility," he explained. "They have a sort of point and rank system, where the more battles you win, the more points you receive, and when your point total reaches a high enough amount, you can challenge someone of the rank above you in order to rank up."

Shauna nodded, and suddenly had a realization. "Oh! It's the place with the Baron and Duke ranks and stuff, right! I heard about it on the news when it opened. Wasn't it about two years ago?"

"Yep!" Calem excitedly exclaimed. "I've always wanted to go, but haven't had a pokémon before now. Apparently the gym leaders and elite four regularly go there."

"That'd be a treat to see a battle between them," Shauna said. "Come to think of it, I'd like to see a performance from Valerie. Apparently she hosts most of the performances in Laverre."

Calem blinked. "I… didn't know that." He was silent for a moment, then frowned a bit. "Actually, what _are _the touristy things in Shabboneau? I know Parfum has the extravagance, but you don't hear much about Shabboneau."

"Well, there's the poké flute," Shauna said. "They stopped being produced around fifty years ago, so there aren't that many left in existence. Shabboneau's is the only one in Kalos."

"Really?" Calem asked. "That's...somewhat surprising."

Shauna nodded sadly. "Yeah. You'd think an artifact like that'd be treated as something more precious, but most got caught in fires or the people who owned them lost them."

There was silence for a few seconds, as if to mourn the lost poké flutes. "Anyway, on a brighter note," Calem said suddenly, "what do you think we'll come across on our way to Camphrier?"

"Well, I want to find a furfrou…" Shauna said, though her voice trailed off to the pokémon as they began their own conversation.

"That Battle Chateau thing sounds so cool!" Fennekin exclaimed.

"I agree," Riolu nodded. "It will be a good place to test our skills and see how we have improved."

"Oh! I just came up with an idea!" Fennekin shouted. "What if there's a triple battle!"

Bulbasaur looked interested. "That'd be fun. We've spared against each other, but I don't think we've had a chance to work together."

"I have to say, that castle also sounded interesting," Fennekin said, giving a pointed look to Riolu. "After all, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of old pictures with old fashion!"

Riolu narrowed his eyes. "Are you mocking me?"

The fox pup smiled deviously. "Perhaps."

"Uh, guys?" Bulbasaur said as the group kept walking. "We might get that chance to fight together soon."

Fennekin looked back. "How so?"

Before Bulbasaur could answer, Fennekin was suddenly shocked by a small jolt of electricity, and her fur puffed up. The group came to an abrupt stop, and Riolu and Bulbasaur both assumed battle-ready stances.

She looked around wildly while growling. "Who did that?!" she demanded, air already beginning to heat up.

A giggling sound alerted the group to the likely culprits, as a plusle and minun revealed themselves from the nearby flowers, electricity arcing between them.

Without prompting, Fennekin used an Ember attack on the two, striking the minun, but both rodents charged in with Spark attacks. The fox pup tried to dodge, but found that a Thunder Wave had rendered her immobile. In an attempt to do something, the air in front of her spontaneously combusted, but the plusle and minun charged right through fast enough that there was minimal injury.

Being struck with two Sparks, and then two Nuzzles for good measure, it seemed that Fennekin was out of the fight. The trainers had not been idle while this happened, however, as Shauna had called out Chespin and Toba to help, and Calem immediately retrieved Fennekin once she went down.

"Hey, what gives?" Toba shouted at the two rodents. "You can't just _do _that!"

"You invaded our territory," the minun, a female, responded. "We're just defending."

"What she said," the plusle, a male, followed up. "And, uh, we just did, so obviously we can."

Toba opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Riolu launching ahead with a Quick Attack, slamming into the minun at high speeds. The minun, however, was having none of it, charging a Nuzzle and shocking Riolu, forcing the jackal to back off.

Bulbasaur contributed with a vine whip to try to prevent the minun from having any breathing room, but the plusle charged in with his own Quick Attack, supplementing it with a Spark in order to bat Bulbasaur's vines away.

"Chespin, use Rollout on Plusle!" Shauna called. "Toba, use the performance idea we practiced back in Lumiose!"

Chespin rolled into a ball, Rock Type energy coating his body, and Toba hopped on top of him, backpedaling as fast as she could as Chespin sprang forward at high speeds.

Minun, who had had a constant Nuzzle up to deter Riolu from approaching, dodged another one of Bulbasaur's vines and shouted, "Helping Hand!"

Plusle's Spark surged with power as soon as the Chespin and Toba duo reached him, and he jumped, aiming to take Toba out before she could use Headbutt. The Spark did succeed in stopping Toba's Headbutt and pushing her off of her already unstable perch, but blasted himself backwards in the process, directly into the path of Chespin's Rollout.

Plusle's eyes widened as Chespin approached rapidly, and though Minun was able to push Chespin's Bite attack away from Plusle with a Spark, she took a hit from Bulbasaur's Vine Whip in the process.

Riolu attempted to make an opening with a Quick Attack into Bite combo with Minun's Nuzzle down for a moment, but she quickly used Spark to deter him once she saw what he was doing, and Riolu backed off.

Calem narrowed his eyes, noticing that the two rodents were panting and seemed to be a bit low on power. "We should get them to use the rest of their energy, then attack them all at once," he said to Shauna.

The Kalosian girl nodded. "Chespin, use Vine Whip! Toba, start charging Work Up!"

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip as well!" Calem called to his pokémon. "Riolu, keep wearing them down."

"What does he _think_ I've been doing," Bulbasaur mumbled to himself as he kept maneuvering vines towards Plusle and Minun.

Riolu declined to speak, instead launching himself forward in an attempt to capitalize on the opening all the dodging the two rodents were doing was creating, but they both started using Nuzzle again as a repellent.

Riolu narrowed his eyes, launching himself forward again with another Quick Attack, but not stopping at the Nuzzle the two created. The rodents then switched to Spark in response, but Riolu was still undeterred. Minun's eyes widened as she realized his strategy was just to tough it out, and quickly said to Plusle, "I need you to use the most powerful Helping Hand you can on me."

Plusle looked somewhat unsure. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Minun simply nodded in response, not wasting energy on speaking as Riolu drew ever closer.

Plusle used Helping Hand, donating his remaining stores of electrical energy to Minun, and she launched herself forward using both Quick Attack and Spark to try to knock out Riolu in a single hit.

Under normal circumstances, it would have.

Unfortunately for Plusle and Minun, Riolu had more up his sleeve than simply toughing the hit out. Instead, he Endured the Spark and Quick Attack, and hit back _hard_ with Counter.

Minun was launched backwards into her comrade, and the two were pushed into the base off a tree. The blinked their eyes open, which soon widened in surprise as they tried to use Nuzzle to repel the two pairs of vines quickly approaching, to no avail. Their electrical stores had been almost completely depleted, and neither had the energy to produce electricity.

The double Vine Whip wrapped the two up, and deposited them on the ground. At first Minun thought they might be letting them go-rather stupidly, she thought-and prepared to use a Quick Attack as a last ditch effort, but she soon found that the two Grass Types had withdrawn their vines very deliberately. A somewhat weakened Riolu fired a Hidden Power at them, but his weakened state was made up for by the Worked Up Toba using Ember.

Neither Plusle nor Minun remained conscious afterward.

Shauna and Calem shared a look as their pokémon backed up, all of which were panting heavily. "Should we capture them?" Calem asked.

Shauna shrugged. "I mean, we can release them afterward if they don't want to come along."

Calem looked at the two unconscious electric rodents. "I'll take Minun, you have Plusle?"

"Sure, why not?" Shauna responded.

The two humans threw their pokéballs at the two rodents they had agreed to catch, and their being unconscious made the captures go off without a hitch. Afterward, the whole group sat down as they waited for Fennekin to wake up, Calem grabbing a few potions out of his backpack for the injured pokémon. Eventually, the fox pup returned to consciousness, and the group filled her in on what had happened.

"It was so cool!" Bulbasaur exclaimed. "We had to make them run out of electricity first because we couldn't get close, and then Riolu decided to speed it up and-"

"He jumped straight into a Spark to use Counter," Chespin finished for his fellow Grass Type starter flatly.

Fennekin was suddenly glaring at Riolu. "You what?"

"I'm completely fine!" Riolu retorted. "It only took a potion to heal!"

"No, not that," Fennekin said. "I'm angry that you did something so epic _without me being awake to witness it!_"

"Anyway," Toba redirected the conversation, "Shauna and Calem caught the Plusle and Minun, respectively."

Fennekin blinked and, much to everyone's sudden surprised that they had not realized it was increasing, the air temperature dropped. "Oh cool," the fox pup replied. "So we've got two Electric Types with us."

Suddenly, Calem and Shauna released Plusle and Minun from their pokéballs, as while their pokémon were talking, they had decided to see if the two rodents were awake.

As it turned out, they were. And they were quite confused about their situation.

Minun stumbled forward. "That...felt really weird." She looked up at the gathered pokémon. "You're not going to attack us again...right?"

Toba chuckled and shook her head.

"Well, that depends," Riolu stated in response. "That was a valiant effort you two put up, and I would love to spar sometime."

Minun winced and Plusle rubbed his head where it had impacted a tree. "I'm…going to have to pass on that one."

Fennekin laughed. "So, as I understand it, you're on the team now?" she asked Minun.

She shrugged. "I suppose so…"

"It'll make you a heck of a lot stronger over time," Bulbasaur inputted.

Minun's eyes widened. "It will?"

The three pokémon traveling with Calem nodded.

Minun almost squealed. "You hear that, Plusle!?" she shouted, grabbing her partner and jumping up and down. "We're going to get so much stronger!"

"Erm… that's great…" Plusle said, unsure. "But…" He trailed off.

Minun stopped bouncing. "But what?"

Plusle rubbed the back of his head. "I'm...not sure I like battling that much."

Minun gasped. "_What_?!" she screamed. "But...but...I thought we were gonna be the dynamic duo!"

Chespin started cackling.

Toba sighed. "Please don't mind him," she said. "He just likes the dramatic irony the whole situation."

Plusle and Minun blinked. "Huh?" they asked simultaneously.

"Shauna wants to be a pokémon performer!" Chespin explained while recovering from his laughing fit. "So Plusle, you'll fit right in on her team."

"Oh," he responded. "So...Minun and I don't have to split up?"

"Of course not!" Fennekin exclaimed, abashed. "We wouldn't split you up if you didn't want to come!"

Minun sighed, relieved. "Oh thank goodness."

Calem and Shauna, based on the reactions Plusle and Minun had to what their pokémon were saying to them, decided that it would be a good idea to scan the two with their pokédexes. Minun suddenly tensed up as she felt, without warning, a small amount of energy reflecting off of her.

Bulbasaur snickered. "And that'd be Calem's pokédex scanning you. Don't worry, it does that."

Minun shook a bit at the surprise while Calem read the pokédex.

**Minun, the cheering pokémon. Minun is often more concerned for its partners' safety than its own. Exposure to both a minun's and a plusle's electricity can act as a defibrillator in an emergency. This minun is female. Active Ability: Minus. Hidden Ability: Volt Absorb (locked). Known Moves: Growl, Nuzzle, Play Nice, Quick Attack, Thunder Wave, Helping Hand, Spark, and Encore. Egg Move(s): Discharge (locked).**

Calem whistled. "That's a nice moveset, especially for double battles," he commented. He knelt down to meet Minun's gaze as Shauna was doing the same with Plusle. "So, do you want to come with us?"

Minun nodded, and then gestured no before Calem could even finish the word nickname.

Calem chuckled. "Well, I guess that settles that." He stood back up and looked at Shauna.

"Shall we head out?" she asked. "I don't think my pokémon are going to want to go back into their 'balls for a while."

Calem checked the time on his phone. "We'll probably be stopping for lunch in about an hour, we can cover a few more kilometers in that time."

Shauna smiled. "Let's go, then!"

Calem nodded, and the nonet continued down Route Five.

* * *

Tapu Lele sighed as she floated over another mountain. The disturbance had gone as soon as it came, and had not repeated itself since, leading to the Akala guardian's current predicament: she was completely and utterly lost.

Under normal circumstances, she would not have minded. This place-which she had learned through skimming over Fennekin's mind was called Kalos-was quite nice after all, and the terrain she had seen so far was far more varied than that of Akala Island. However, she was not there for sightseeing.

Suddenly, Tapu Lele detected an area full of energy, and decided to investigate. Upon nearing, she realized that the energy she was sensing was emanating from many stone pillars in a treeless area. To say that Tapu Lele was confused would be an understatement.

To her, the energy the pillars were giving off was similar to the energy z-crystals gave off, but not quite the same. It was wilder, less focused, than what she was used to on the Alolan Islands. Smiling, she got to work on trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

It was not until that night, when she connected to Fennekin's mind, that Tapu Lele realized something, and as a guardian of life, she was disappointed in herself for not noticing it earlier. This was a graveyard that had been imbued with power, and the energy she had been feeling was the life force of everything that had died in this area.

_Well, now that just prompts more questions than it answers_, Tapu Lele thought, connecting her mind with Fennekin's sleeping one. _I suppose I can investigate it later, though._

* * *

Fennekin opened her eyes, expecting another nightmare, but instead, it was the simple darkness of a psychic lesson.

"Tapu Lele," the fox pup called out.

_Hello, Fennekin_, Tapu Lele telepathically stated in response, a shimmering, dream-like image of her appearing before the Fire Type. _How have you been?_

Fennekin shrugged. "Awake? I've been doing great. Asleep? Not so much. Is there really no way for you to stop my nightmares?"

Tapu Lele mentally sighed. _Not without breaking through the mental barriers your power puts up when you are locked in a night terror, and doing that could seriously damage your psyche._

Fennekin cringed at the thought.

_Also,_ Tapu Lele continued, _I am not entirely sure what it causing your nightmares, and trying to stop them permanently without that knowledge is futile._

Fennekin looked down and shifted her paws a bit. "I know that, but…is there some way to make them less scary. I can't remember the individual details of my nightmares, but there's a feeling of helplessness that's in all of them."

Tapu Lele sighed again, and sent feelings of peace and tranquility over their psychic link. _There may be a way to calm yourself better afterward._

The fox pup looked up excitedly. "Really?" she asked.

_Yes, and I believe you are ready to begin your true mental training._

Fennekin could feel her mouth fall open in surprise.

_But, I must warn you. Communicating mentally is a difficult skill to learn, and even harder to master. You will likely not be able to fully communicate until you have evolved, possibly even twice._

"I'll do it," Fennekin said assuredly.

_Well then, we shall begin with teaching you how to meditate, and I predict that this alone may take close to a month._

"How so?" Fennekin asked. "Meditation can't be that hard."

_Normal meditation is easy, yes. You simply only have to be in your natural mental state for that. However, psychic meditation is a form of an unnatural mental state, but is opposite to most unnatural states of mind._

Fennekin looked faintly confused. "What do you mean by 'opposite'?"

_Most unnatural states of mind are where many thoughts are constantly flowing through someone's head without pause. On the opposite side of the spectrum, having no thought, no emotion for a time is perfect psychic meditation, and is also unnatural._

"So, you'll need me to be able to completely erase my thoughts and emotions while meditating?" Fennekin asked.

_Of course not_, Tapu Lele clarified. _Perfect psychic meditation is nigh impossible, even for the most powerful of psychics, including myself. Instead, I will be teaching you how to clear your mind of all but one emotion. Near perfect psychic meditation._

"Ah," Fennekin responded. "When do we start?"

_Now._

* * *

Saturday and Sunday passed without much fanfare, other than training and a few encounters with other trainers, and the group arrived in Camphrier Town on Sunday evening.

Shauna yawned as they walked into town. "That was a tiring las leg of the route."

Calem shrugged. "It was just a few hills."

"If repeated 200 meter ascents and descents and be considered 'hills,' then sure," Shauna replied. "Just where did you hike in Kanto?"

"Mount Moon," Calem responded. "It's quite a hike, especially since we'd start in Pewter City and hike our way to the mountain, but I think it's worth it."

Shauna blinked at him incredulously.

Calem coughed. "Anyway, we should probably check in to the pokémon center."

"I'll say," Bulbasaur said to his fellow pokémon. "I'm starving!"

"Bulbasaur, we ate dinner two hours ago, how are you hungry already?" Riolu asked.

"The sunlight's fading. I'm hungry compared to how I normally feel," replied the plant dinosaur.

Riolu shrugged, deciding to just let it go, for once.

* * *

The next morning, the group had eaten breakfast and were about to exit the pokémon center when a trainer stomped his way in, grumbling to himself. "Stupid Snorlax, blocking up the route." He noticed Calem and Shauna looking at him curiously as he walked passed, and decided to make himself helpful. "Don't try to head out by Route Seven for the next week. You won't make it very far."

Calem turned to Shauna. "Well, we were planning on heading to Shabboneau Castle today, didn't you say they have a pokéflute?"

Shauna nodded. "I have to wonder why they haven't used it yet."

The two shrugged, and exited the pokémon center.

Camphrier Town was large enough that many considered it to be a city, and with a population of close to forty thousand, one could see why. After all, with ten thousand more residents than Santalune City, the reasoning behind the moniker "Town"-that being the historical value of Camphrier, once being the seat of the Kalosian government for a time in the fifteenth century, along with its more rustic feel-was shaky at best. But still, Camphrier remains known as a town, and Shabboneau Castle remains on the northern side of it.

Shabboneau Castle itself, from the outside, looked unassuming. The building was old-that much was clear from the clear age of the stone making up most of the walls-but still held an air of welcome.

Upon entering and reading some of the historical stories about the place, Calem and Shauna soon realized that the castle had more to offer than what appeared at first glance. In 854, the castle had been attacked, and several landowners from the surrounding areas banded together to rebuild it, and Louis I, Duke of Camphrier, purchased it in 1391. His son Charles inherited it, and after a twenty-five year imprisonment in Galar, returned to the city that, at that time, was named Shabboneau. The castle then went to his son, Louis XII, King of Kalos, who added several wings to the castle.

The castle then went through the hands of several different Kalosian kings, until Louis XIII gifted it to his brother, Gaston, in 1626 as a wedding gift after he moved into Parfum Palace to use as a hunting manor. Despite owning the castle, Gaston was unable to fund it after his nephew, Louis XIV, was born, and Shabboneau Castle faded into disrepair. The city was renamed to Camphrier as the nearby town spread to engulf it, and by the time the Kalosian Revolution rolled around, all of the castle's statues and artwork had been moved to Parfum, and it was set to be demolished, but was delayed to be used as a military barracks. In 1840, the government of Kalos determined Shabboneau Castle to be a historical site, and began funding its repair. The museum itself, however, was privately funded.

"Hey, Calem!" Shauna practically shouted to him, who was reading about a room in the castled called the "Chamber of Secrets." "Come look at this!"

"What is it?" Calem asked, walking over to the empty glass case with a plaque next to it.

"I think I found out why Shabboneau hasn't used their pokéflute," Shauna replied.

"In 1952, the awakening was invented by the Unovan scientist William Colress," the sign read. "Afterward, production of the pokéflute worldwide began slowing down. The last pokéflute produced was in 1964, and since then, their numbers have steadily been declining. Many have been lost to fires or are unaccounted for, and currently, there is only one in Kalos. In 1997, Shabboneau Castle Museum outbid the Lumiose Art Museum for it, and it remained here for over fifteen years. However, on August 3, 2013, Parfum Palace purchased the pokéflute from Shabboneau for just over ten million pokédollars."

Calem blinked. "Do you think someone's gone to Parfum to ask them to use the pokéflute on the snorlax?"

"Probably not," said a voice approaching from behind the two. "Route Seven isn't often traveled because of its length. Most people just take the road."

The pair of teens turned around. "Really?" Shauna asked, turning around. "I would've thought people would care about it."

The old man shrugged. "I guess they're just willing to wait the week it might take for Snorlax to wake up." He looked down. "I don't think anyone would be able to convince Parfum to part with the pokéflute, even for a short amount of time. They tend to be pretty stingy."

Shauna tilted her head. "You sound like you have personal experience with them."

The man chuckled. "Considering that I own Shabboneau Museum, yeah, I have personal experience with them. Lord Shabboneau, at your business." He bowed.

Calem and Shauna stepped back a bit upon realizing they were talking to the owner. "Why'd you sell the pokéflute, out of curiosity?" Calem asked.

Lord Shabboneau sighed. "For the record, I voted against it. But, we're pretty in debt to the city, and we needed the money." He looked around. "Really, I suspect we'll be going bankrupt soon. We've sold pretty much everything to Parfum, and we're losing tourism by the day." He smiled at the two teens. "You two shouldn't worry about it. Though, if you do stop by Parfum, could you at least try to track down the owner and tell him about Snorlax? I doubt it'll do anything, but personally, I've been wanting to head down to the Battle Chateau for a while now." He nodded at Calem and Shauna. "Most people don't listen to me ramble for that long. Goodbye for now." He walked off.

Calem and Shauna looked at each other. "Parfum?" Shauna asked.

Calem nodded, and checked the time on his phone. "It's only eleven. If we hurry, we should be able to get there before evening if we only stop for lunch. You up for it?"

"Of course," Shauna said. She narrowed her eyes. "Where are your pokémon?"

Calem blinked and looked around. "I think I last saw them around that corner," he stated, pointing back to where they had come from to look at the pokéflute's empty case.

Luckily, the group of four pokémon had not moved much, as Riolu had insisted on analyzing some of the paintings.

"Honestly, it's kinda disappointing," Bulbasaur said. "You'd think there'd be more here, considering it's a castle and all."

"I think they had to sell everything," Fennekin mentioned. "Or at least, that's what I heard some people saying."

Calem and Shauna took that moment to round the corner. "Alright guys," Calem said to his pokémon, "we're heading to Parfum."

Riolu frowned. "We have just arrived," he stated. "Why are we leaving so soon?"

Despite not exactly understanding him, Shauna seemed to get the basics of what the jackal was trying to convey. "There isn't really much else here," she explained.

"Plus, the owner of this place kind of asked us to basically head up to Parfum and get the pokéflute to wake up the snorlax blocking Route Seven, so we're doing that now."

Minun perked up. "So more traveling?"

Fennekin looked at her strangely. "I'm sorry, did you just say that you _want _to walk for the rest of the day?"

* * *

As it turned out, they did, in fact, walk for the remainder of their day, excluding a lunch break, along with a bit of a break to check out the snorlax problem. Apparently, this particular snorlax had chosen the Route Seven Bridge as a spot to nap many times in the past, and had become resistant to awakenings, full heals, and full restores. As they walked, Shauna decided to bring up some interesting tidbits about Parfum Palace on her phone.

"Apparently nobody knows where the palace came from," she said. "People kind of just noticed it being there in the sixteenth century and Louis XIII decided it was a great place to hunt."

"There's no record of its construction?" Calem asked, curious.

Shauna shook her head. "Not that I can find." She checked the time and frowned. "It's just about six. Do you know how close we are to the palace?"

Calem looked up, and narrowed his eyes. "I think I can see the Route Six entrance in the distance. We'll probably be there in less than half an hour."

As the group neared, they marveled at the grandeur of what was just the entrance archway. Though, "archway" was putting it lightly. It was a one hundred meter long, rooved, though lacking walls besides some supporting columns, structure encased in gold foil, surrounded on both sides by some of the most beautiful gardens the group had seen, and most of them had been through Route Four.

"Just how much money do these people have?" Calem asked, astounded.

"Considering that the owners are literally nobility _and_ profit off of the tourism, a lot," Shauna responded.

Calem gulped, suddenly realizing that they had decided to try to convince nobility to share the pokéflute. "So, what's the plan?"

Shauna shrugged. "Honestly, right now, I just want to get dinner. The hotel built into the palace has a restaurant in it."

More and more people filled the group's field of vision as they approached the palace gates and joined the line waiting for admissions. "Five hundred poké per person," said the clerk in a tired voice, probably nearing the end of her shift. "Pokémon are free."

The two paid, and entered the gate. Even just the opening courtyard, a magnificent area filled with all kinds of flowers and walkways, along with a large fountain in the center, was breathtaking. It paled in comparison, however, to Parfum Palace itself. The building had been designed in such a way that it reflected a golden sheen no matter the angle of the sun, and was clearly based in Renaissance-era architecture. There were also several balconies, all of which were supported by ten-meter columns from ground to balcony.

Despite having read about Parfum Palace and having seen pictures, the grandeur of seeing it in person took Calem and Shauna by surprise. Calem cleared his throat. "So, dinner first?"

Shauna nodded. "There's a restaurant in the back courtyard."

The group, humans and pokémon alike, wasted no time in making their way through the building. As much as they would have liked to read about the history of the palace, or marvel at the art pieces, they wanted food. Unfortunately, they would not be eating for a bit longer, as a very furry furfrou charged into Calem's legs and out the door before they had even exited the building, knocking him over.

"Sorry about that!" a somewhat overweight man apologized as he ran over while Shauna helped Calem back to his feet. "She doesn't like the groomers very much."

Calem shrugged. "It's fine, I just wasn't expecting it."

The man chuckled, and noticed Calem's pokémon. "Say, would you mind helping to calm her down?" he asked. "Furfrou is normally a bit skittish after she's been spooked, so I'd appreciate the help."

"Sure!" Shauna replied, sending out Chespin, Toba, and Plusle. "We'd love to help!"

"Great!" the man exclaimed. "She'll probably be hanging around one of the hedge decorations outside, so if you could herd her into the center of one of them, I should be able to walk in and calm her down."

"Fennekin knows Hypnosis, if that's any help," Calem supplied.

"That's actually a great help," the man said, nodding. "We'll be able to get her into a comfortable environment before I wake her up." He gestured for the others to follow him as he walked out the door. "My name's Elliot, by the way."

Calem took the moment to introduce himself. "I'm Calem," he said.

"And I'm Shauna!" Shauna exclaimed.

"So, what's the plan?" Calem asked as they walked outside. "Do Shauna, our pokémon, and I just get Furfrou to the center of a hedge and have Fennekin use Hypnosis?"

Elliot blinked. "That's actually a lot better than what I had in mind." He shook his head. "I'm sorry if I seem a bit absent-minded, but I forgot your other pokémon exist."

"It's okay," Shauna said. "Your pokémon ran off, so you must have a lot on your mind."

Elliot sighed. "Honestly, I wish I could say that this is the first time this has happened. This particular furfrou just really does not like groomers."

They continued onward, over the bridge connecting the palace to the back courtyard, and were able to see Furfrou run into the northwestern hedge.

"Here's the plan," Elliot said. "There's four entrances, so we'll need teams to cover each of them. Calem, you're with Bulbasaur and Litleo-"

"She's nicknamed Toba," Shuana interrupted.

"Toba, then," Elliot corrected. "Shauna, you'll be with Chespin. Riolu, Plusle, and Minun will be a team, and I'll work with Fennekin. Got it?"

The assembled humans and pokémon either nodded or said "yes" in their own language, and got to work.

Despite the relatively small size of the hedge decoration, it had several twists and turns within it, and it was surprisingly difficult to get furfrou to a position where she could not run. Riolu and his group managed to chase her into Calem's group, but she ran right passed where Shauna and Chespin would have herded her more towards the center. With some regrouping and rethinking their strategy, they were eventually able to corner Furfrou, and Fennekin used Hypnosis to put her to sleep.

"Thanks for the help," Elliot said as he picked Furfrou up.

"I don't mean to be rude," Shauna began, "but why didn't you just return her to her pokéball?"

Elliot shook his head. "I wish I had her 'ball on me, but it's being cleaned right now." He looked up. "Anyway, I have to do something to thank the two of you. It's almost seven, and I doubt you're going to want to walk to Camphrier in the middle of the night. I can offer you two a stay in the hotel and two meals at the restaurant free of charge, if you would like."

Calem blinked. "Isn't that really expensive?"

Elliot chuckled. "Considering that I own the place, consider it 'on the house.'"

Shauna sputtered a bit at realizing they were talking to the owner, though she quickly composed herself. "That's really nice of you to offer, thank you." She considered something else for a moment. "Actually, we wanted to ask you a question, since you're the owner," she said. "There's a snorlax blocking the Route Seven bridge. Could you take care of that with the pokéflute?"

"Awakenings aren't working?" Elliot asked.

"This snorlax's immune," Calem supplied.

Elliot sighed. "Yeah, I can get someone down there tomorrow morning. Oh, and if you're staying the night, make sure to watch the fireworks show we're having tonight. The second floor Hall of Mirrors Balcony is a good place to watch from."

"Is there some event tonight?" Shauna asked curiously.

"Nah, I just felt like fireworks." He handed the two a card each with his signature on it. "And show this to the restaurant and hotel staff. They'll know it's from me." He then walked off, carrying his furfrou in his arms.

"Do rich people do this normally, or is he just eccentric?" Shauna asked, staring at where Elliot had been.

"I think he's probably just eccentric," Calem replied.

* * *

As it turned out, the restaurant had served some very delicious food, though looking at the prices, Calem and Shauna were quite glad it was free for them. While they were waiting for the fireworks to start at eight thirty, Calem noticed two statues that he hadn't earlier, one depicting a stunningly white pokémon, the other a jet black one.

"Hey, Shauna?" he asked. "Did you read anything about the Reshiram and Zekrom statues in the courtyard?"

Shauna looked up at the two statues and narrowed her eyes. "I think I've seen them mentioned before," she said, beginning to open up the Parfum Palace site on her phone. "Hold on, let me check."

A few moments later, she had located the information. "Ah! Apparently they were a gift from Unova to Kalos for Kalos's help in fighting Galar. There were actually almost destroyed in the Kalosian Revolution, but managed to survive when Pafum Palace was sacked."

"Interesting," Calem replied. He looked like he was about to say something else, but was cut off by the beginning of the fireworks.

It was not the best fireworks show Calem had seen-Saffron City had an absolutely spectacular one on closing night the year they hosted the Pokémon World Tournament-but it felt oddly different somehow. A bit uncomfortable, even. Perhaps it was the quaintness of it all, he thought, as he subconsciously shifted slightly closer to Shauna.

When he looked over at her as a firework went off, her face illuminated in red and blue light, he realized exactly why he was feeling uncomfortable. He was watching fireworks with a rather pretty girl he was not related to. And with that realization, his brain pretty much stalled for a moment.

_I'm sorry, where did that come from?_ He thought to himself. _I've known her for two weeks, she's just a friend._

As much as he thought his teenage hormones were screaming at him otherwise, he resisted the very act of thinking in order to stop it.

"Calem?" he heard Shauna ask, snapping him out of his mental battle as she tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

He was suddenly acutely aware that he was standing almost completely stiff, and took a moment to relax himself and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm...I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About what?" Shauna asked, curious.

"Just wondering how Ash and Serena are doing," he said quickly.

Shauna chuckled. "Knowing them, they're probably already in Santalune."

* * *

Ash walked out of Santalune Gym, placing the Bug Badge into the Kalos badge case he bought earlier that day.

"That was quite the match," Brock said.

Ash nodded. "I wasn't expecting a four versus four match for the first badge of the region, but I suppose they did ask for how many badges I had, including ones from other regions."

"Not to mention you and Serena flew there on Pidgeot," Brock mentioned.

"Speaking of," Serena began, "why don't you do that more often? I found it fun, at least."

"I mean, I could just fly around on Pidgeot and get all the badges in a couple days using just my old pokémon, but there's no fun in that!" Ash explained. "Besides, I like meeting new people and pokémon. Flying to the gym wouldn't have been my first choice, but we had to get there before closing."

Serena shrugged. "Fair enough. I guess I'll see you two tomorrow, then," she said as they entered the pokémon center.

"Yep," Brock confirmed. "Good luck on your performance debut in case you have to leave for it earlier tomorrow morning!"

* * *

Calem chuckled. "Knowing Ash, he probably has the badge already."

"Probably," Shauna agreed.

Their conversation faded into silence, but it was a much more comfortable silence than before, at least for Calem.

The fireworks ended at about nine, and the two humans and their pokémon made their way back inside the building, discussing what their plans were for the next day. "If we leave at six, we should be able to make it back to Route Seven by one, and hopefully the snorlax will be cleared up by then," Calem said.

"And you'll have the afternoon to check out the Battle Chateau," Shauna inputted.

Calem nodded, and was about to say something, but was cut off by Elliot suddenly appearing. "Hello," he greeted.

"Hi, Elliot!" Shauna excitedly said back. "Is there anything else you need us for?"

"Well, I couldn't help but overhear that you're leaving early tomorrow morning, and there was something I wanted to discuss with you two tomorrow, but tonight should do," he explained. "Follow me."

Elliot led the group through a few hallways before showing them into a room housing Furfrou, along with what looked to be her pups. "So, my furfrou that you helped rescue earlier had a litter a few weeks ago, and I was wondering if one of you'd like to take one. Consider it more thanks for helping out."

Shauna blinked, and suddenly rushed forward to look at the furfrou puppies. "They're so adorable!" she practically squealed. She put her hand out, and one of them walked forward, sniffed her hand, and licked it. This time, Shauna actually did squeal.

"This one!" she exclaimed. "I'll take this one."

Elliot blinked. "That was fast," he commented. "Are you sure you don't want to take more time?"

Shauna shook her head, standing up with the puppy in her arms and pokéball in hand. "Do they have pokéballs yet, or do I need to capture this one?"

"You'll have to capture her," Elliot answered. "It shouldn't be any trouble, especially since she seems to take a liking to you."

Shauna nodded, and with a bump of the pokéball against the furfrou's fur, the puppy was absorbed and the capture completed.

Thanking Elliot for both his hospitality and the furfrou, Calem and Shauna headed off to the hotel to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, the group headed out early after grabbing a quick breakfast, as was planned, and with one stop for lunch, they reached the Route Seven Bridge at one fifteen. As was expected, the snorlax had been taken care of, and they made their way onward.

Without any complications due to trainers or wild pokémon, the group had the time to just enjoy the scenery and talk to each other, something Fennekin took great advantage of.

"Alright Chespin," she said. "You were there last night during the fireworks."

Chespin sighed, already telling where this was going. "No, I'm not joining your crazy idea that Calem and Shauna like each other."

"But, but…" Fennekin pouted, trying to come up with a response. "Did you _see_ how Calem looked at Shauna that one time?"

"Exactly once," Chespin replied, "but it must not have lasted for long, because I sure as heck didn't see it."

"He looked at her for about half a second once before turning back to the fireworks," Bulbasaur supplied. "Though, they did talk for a bit."

Fennekin waved her paw. "Yeah that one doesn't count, it was just a pleasant conversation."

"Ahem," Riolu cleared his throat, hoping to redirect the subject and pointing to a building. "I do believe that is the Battle Chateau we have heard of."

It was, in fact, the Battle Chateau, though that much could be seen from the sign. As the group crossed the bridge connecting the Chateau, which was built into the nearby river, to the path, the doorman respectfully bowed. "Bonjour monsieur, mademoiselle. Are either of you here today to battle?"

"I'd like to try my hand at it," Calem replied.

Shauna just shook her head. "I'm just here to watch."

The doorman nodded, sent some message ahead using a pager, and gestured for them to enter.

"Good afternoon," the receptionist politely said as they entered. "The monsieur is battling today, correct?"

Calem nodded, and the receptionist pushed some papers towards him.

"You just need to fill out this form," he explained. "Afterward, you'll have to battle against a baron, but the only time slot we have available at the moment for a public initiation battle is after an exhibition battle."

Calem looked up after finishing the form. "Are we allowed to just go in to spectate?"

"Of course!" the receptionist answered. "It's in the outdoor section of the west wing, beginning in five minutes. Your own will be..." he checked the time slot, "directly afterward, actually."

Calem and Shauna both nodded, them heading toward the battle, and their pokémon following behind them. The group arrived just on time to watch, and the two humans sat down in some of the only spectator seats left available, them having to recall their pokémon upon reaching the stands, much to their pokémons' chagrin.

Upon seeing exactly who was battling, Calem's eyes widened in surprise.

"This will be a full battle, with six pokémon on each side," the referee stated. "Any use of healing items not already held by a pokémon will result in automatic disqualification, as will not having a pokémon on the field for any more than five seconds. Recalling and switching pokémon, however, is allowed. Do both trainers agree to these terms?"

It was a required formality to ask for agreement from both trainers in official pokémon battles, and for many gym battles, it is a step the referee skips. Most of the time, the rules are never challenged, as was the case in this battle, when both competitors nodded in agreement.

The referee smiled and stepped back behind the barrier a mr. mime was creating to protect the stands. "Then the battle between Duchess Drasna and Duke Wikstrom will now commence! Begin!"

* * *

Lord Shabboneau sighed while he read the bank statement. He knew it was coming, and it was only a matter of time. With tourism decreasing rapidly, and Camphrier itself widely being regarded as only a stopover for Parfum Palace, Shabboneau Castle Museum was bound to go bankrupt eventually. When he had told the two kids he met the day previous that they were going bankrupt "soon," what he had not told them was that he was one of six employees left working for the museum, and they had been the only two visitors throughout the entire day.

_It really is a shame_, he thought as he walked through the barren halls, nothing left on the walls but stray wire and he occasional wall light. _This building has so much history to it, but I suppose the city will be able to take better care of it than I could._

As he approached the set of double doors leading to Camphrier Town, in his right hand he clutched the pokéball containing his beloved mawile. In his old age, she was the only pokémon he had left. In his left pocket, he had something much less well known: a mawilite. Those in hand, he exited the building.

With a heavy heart and sighing soul, the keys felt like lead as he brought them up to lock the doors for the final time, saying goodbye to the museum he had run for over fifty years.

As he walked away from city hall later to confirm Camphrier Town's repossession-and probable scheduled demolition-of the castle, Lord Shabbonaeu was approached by a slightly overweight, incredibly pale man with a shockingly orange mohawk. He was wearing orange glasses, and was similarly dressed in all orange.

"Lord Shabboneau," he greeted, walking up to the old man. "It is my understanding that you are out of a job, correct? And that you are in the possession of a mega stone?"

Shabboneau gulped a bit. "Yes to both questions. Why do you ask?"

The man smiled. "I am Xerosic from Lysandre Labs. And I have a business proposition for you."

By the end of the day, Lysandre Labs had purchased Shabboneau castle from Camphrier Town, and Lord Shabboneau was working there once more.

* * *

**Author's Notes: So, it would appear things are flaring up.**

**I apologize for the later update on this one. I'm still mentally processing Nintendo's E3 presentation yesterday. And June 5th's, but that one's fine. I like the idea of Dynamax. Now the removal of Megas and Z-Moves AND them removing all pokémon that aren't in Galar already? That's something that I don't care for too much. Now, SwSh would still be my most hyped game on the Switch if Nintendo hadn't gone and added Banjo to Smash _and then just dropped BotW 2 confirmation like it's no big deal this is amazing and-_**

**Ahem. My apologies. I just like the Zelda games and Smash Bros. Have a great day to you all!**


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